Shiva sails into finals, Vikas settles for bronze

Shiva Thapa (56kg) was the lone Indian boxer to make the final after Olympic-bound Vikas Krishan (69kg) settled for a bronze medal following his loss in the semi-final of the 43rd men's and women's Grand Prix in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic.

Shiva, who has been picked in the team for next month's Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Kazakhstan, defeated Czech Republic's Patrik Velky 9-5.

Shiva will now face Vittorio Jahyn Parrinnelo of Italy in the summit clash. Vikas, on the other hand, lost to Cuba's Despaigne Arisnoide 9-14.

"Both the boxers fought well but unfortunately Vikas lost. Shiva has been in good form ever since he came on the senior level last year and he showed why he is considered a promising talent. He was sharp as usual with his reflexes and has a solid defence," coach Jagdeep Hooda, who is with the team said.

Shiva grabbed a 3-1 lead in the opening round before consolidating it to 7-3 in the next three minutes. The final round was tied at 2-2 but the Indian had enough overall cushion to emerge triumphant.

Vikas, on the other hand, was tied 2-2 in the opening round against his rival but the Cuban eventually sneaked ahead in the next couple of rounds.

The rest of the Indians have already bowed out of the competition.

The Olympic-bound duo of Jai Bhagwan (60kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg), who will represent India in the Asia Olympic qualifiers, lost in the first round itself.

The women drew a blank with Asian Games bronze medalist Kavita Goyat (75kg), Van Lal Duati (51kg) and Preeti Beniwal (60kg) losing in the first round of their competition.

The tournament, being organised by Czech Boxing Association, features over 130 boxers.