Shiva Thapa too good for Pakistan boxer: Thapa Arjuna Awardee is from Assam

28-year-old registers comprehensive 5-0 win over Suleman Baloch

Shiva Thapa (right) in action against Suleman Baloch in Birmingham on Friday.: PTI

PTI   |   Birmingham   |    30.07.22 : Ace Indian boxer Shiva Thapa began his Commonwealth Games campaign with a victory against Pakistan’s Suleman Baloch in the first round of the 63.5kg category, here on Friday.

The 28-year-old Thapa registered a comprehensive 5-0 win over Baloch to move to the pre-quarter finals of the light welter weight category. Thapa was technically far superior to Baloch and landed a flurry of sharp punches on his opponent.

Victory for paddlers

India’s men’s and women’s table tennis teams had easy starts to their respective campaigns with identical 3-0 victories over Barbados and South Africa, respectively. In a group 3 encounter against minnows Barbados, the pair of Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan steamrolled Kevin Farley and Tyrese Knight 11-9, 11-9, 11-4 while Sharath Kamal made short work of Ramon Maxwell 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 in less than 15 minutes.

Sathiyan then disposed of Tyrese Knight 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 to seal the tie. In the women’s event, the doubles duo of Sreeja Akula and Reeth Tennison beat the South African pair of Lailaa Edwards and Danisha Patel 11-7, 11-7, 11-5. Manika Batra then thrashed Musfique Kalam 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 in the first singles match.

Akula then came back and scored a 11-5, 11-3, 11-6 win over Patel.

Gurjit’s brace

The Indian women’s hockey team began their campaign with a 5-0 win over Ghana. The Savita Punia-led team was, however, far from impressive in their first Pool A game.

Gurjit Kaur (third, 39th minutes) scored a brace, while Neha Goyal (28th), Sangita Kumari (36th) and Salima Tete (56th) struck a field goal each for India. Penalty corner conversion haunted India as they made use of just one of the 10 chances that came their way.

Shuttlers dominate

India completed a 5-0 whitewash of Pakistan in their badminton mixed team campaign opener.

B Sumeeth Reddy and Machimanda Ponnappa defeated Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti and Ghazala Siddique 21-9, 21-12. Then Kidambi Srikanth breezed past Murad Ali 21-7, 21-12 and PV Sindhu thrashed Mahoor Shahzad 21-7, 21-6. In the fourth match, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Murad and Bhatti 21-12, 21-9. In the concluding match, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand crushed Mahoor Shahzad and Ghazala Siddique 21-4, 21-5. Swimmer Srihari Nataraj clocked 54.68s to qualify for the semi-finals of the men’s 100m backstroke.

The 21-year-old from Bangalore was the third fastest swimmer in his heat and fifth fastest overall.

(Ed: Shiva Thapa is an Indian boxer. He is employed with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. He is supported by Olympic Gold Quest and Anglian Medal Hunt Company, Shiva Thapa participated in the 2012 London Olympics, and was the youngest Indian boxer to qualify for the Olympics. He is from the city of Guwahati in the state of Assam. Shiva Thapa was only 18 when he qualified for the Olympics in 2012 making him the youngest Indian boxer ever to qualify for the Games. By the time he was 22, he was already a two-time Olympian and an Arjuna Awardee.)