Boxing Worlds: Narender, Govind, Deepak impress; Shiva Thapa crashes out

Ace Indian boxer Shiva Thapa made a shocking exit from the Men's World Championships even as two other pugilists advanced to the pre-quarter finals in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Thursday.

Shiva (63.5kg), the 2015 bronze medallist who had received a bye in the first round, went down fighting 3-4 to Dos Reis Yuri of Brazil, with the final decision been announced after a bout review. 

Shiva, who was seeded second, did well to recover from his sluggish start that cost him the first round 1-4.

Narender Berwal (+92kg), and Govind Sahani (48kg) advanced to the pre-quarterfinals while promising pugilist Deepak Kumar (51kg), who is competing in Amit Panghal's weight class, also progressed to the Round of 32.

Narender, who finished in the quarter-finals at the previous World Championships, started his campaign by defeating Muhammad Abroridinov of Tajikistan in a closely contested bout. Despite a stern fight put up by his opponent, Narender landed powerful punches and dodged Abroridinov’s attacks to clinch the victory by 4-1. He will now face Fernando Arzola of Cuba in the quarter-finals.

In other matches, Govind and Deepak both secured identical victories. Govind defeated Mehron Shafiev of Tajikistan, while Deepak ousted Luis Delgado of Ecuador with his technical ability.

Govind will face the top-seeded Sakhil Alakhverdovi of Georgia in the pre-quarters, while Deepak will take on Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan. 

Mohammad Hussamuddin, Ashish Chaudhary, and Naveen Kumar will all compete in pre-quarters on Friday against Lyu Ping of China, Arlen Lopez of Cuba, and Jeong Jae-min of South Korea, respectively.

The tournament features 538 boxers from 107 countries, including several Olympic medallists.