World Championships: Narender Berwal in last-8, Shiva Thapa packs bags

Tashkent, May 4

Narender Berwal advanced to the quarterfinals after winning a closely-fought bout while Govind Sahani and Deepak Kumar entered the pre-quarterfinals at the Men’s World Boxing Championships here today.

Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), who had received a bye in the first round, made a shock exit after losing 3-4 to Dos Reis Yuri of Brazil, with the final decision been announced after a bout review.

With a quarterfinals finish at the previous World Championships under his belt, Narender began his quest for a medal by defeating Muhammad Abroridinov of Tajikistan 4-1 in the 92kg category.

Both pugilists, who won bronze at the 2022 Asian Championships, went all out from the beginning in their bout. Narender landed powerful punches and dodged Abroridinov’s attacks from close range to have the upper hand in the first round.

The Hisar-born pugilist maintained the momentum in the next two rounds and won the bout. He will face the 2021 World Youth Championships bronze medallist Fernando Arzola of Cuba in the quarterfinals.

Earlier in the day, 2022 Thailand Open champion Govind (48kg) and 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist Deepak (51kg) kicked off their respective campaigns with similar victories.

Govind, who has had an outstanding year so far with a gold at the National Championships and a silver at the Strandja Memorial, continued his rich vein of form by making light work of Mehron Shafiev of Tajikistan to secure a 5-0 win. Deepak, on the other hand, was also at his attacking best as he ousted Luis Delgado of Ecuador by a unanimous decision.