Shiva Thapa, Ashish Kumar Enter Quarterfinals of Boxing Nationals

Rohit Tokas (75kg) caused a huge upset as he stunned Asian Championships silver medallist and home favourite Ashish Kumar in the quarter-final while the top boxers, led by Sachin Siwach (57kg) and Shiva Thapa (63Kg) comfortably sailed into the semi-finals on the fifth day of the ongoing 4th Elite men’s National Boxing Championships at the Baddi University of Emerging Sciences and Technology on Tuesday.

Rohit Tokas from the Railways adopted a counter-attacking strategy against his taller opponent from Himachal. He succeeded in landing more punches to unsettle Ashish with a mix of close-range attack. Rohit landed more clear punches in the third round to finally call an upset win with 4-1 margin.

Talking about his big win, last edition gold medalist, Rohit said, “It is my first tournament in the new weight category and defeating a big player is a huge morale booster. I worked a lot on my strength and did a lot of weight training in my preparation ahead of the National. I am glad that my counter-attacking strategy worked today. Hopefully, I will win the gold medal again.”