Shiva Thapa becomes India's first gold-medallist in Kazakhstan President's Cup
New Delhi: Four-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa became India's first gold-medallist at the President's Cup boxing tournament after getting a walkover in the finals in Astana, Kazakhstan on Saturday.
Making his international debut in the newly-introduced Olympic category of 63kg, Thapa was to fight Kazakhstan's Zakir Safiullin in the summit clash but his opponent had to pull out due to injury.
Thapa had lost to Safiullin in the Asian Championship semifinal earlier this year.
Signing off with a silver medal was woman boxer Parveen (60kg) who lost her final bout to local hope Rimma Volosenko.
"The new weight category has been easy to adapt. I have not faced too much difficulty. Obviously there are challenges of facing boxers who are coming from 64kg, given their power but nothing is impossible," Thapa, a 60kg category boxer before the rejigging of Olympic divisions, told PTI from Astana.
Thapa couldn't make the cut for the September world championships after losing in the trials to Commonwealth Games silver-winner Manish Kaushik.
Thapa had defeated Kyrgyzstan's Argon Kadiribekuulu 4-1 in the last-four stage bout.
"Shiva had a great tournament, beating some really fancied opponents. It was an impressive performance," said India's High Performance Director Santiago Nieva.
Earlier, Sweety Boora (81kg) and Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg) had ended their campaign with bronze medals following semifinal defeats.
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Stone-pelting allegations trigger tension in K'taka town; youths injured, security tightened
Chikkamagaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): Tension gripped the Vijayapura area of Chikkamagaluru late Monday night following allegations of stone-pelting, triggering protests by members of two communities and heavy police deployment.
Allegations surfaced that some youths from a community had pelted stones at houses over the past week and harassed girls for the last three days, leading to outrage among local residents, police said.
According to police sources, two youths who were found moving in a suspicious manner were caught by activists of an organisation, beaten up and later handed over to the police. Soon after, hundreds of youths from both communities gathered in front of the Basavanahalli Police Station and the government hospital, creating a tense atmosphere.
While one group claimed they were not involved in stone-pelting, another group demanded strict action against those responsible for the attacks on houses and alleged harassment.
Police, who were alerted in advance, rushed to the spot and dispersed the crowd.
Authorities said they struggled for some time before bringing the situation under control. Tight security was in place across the city.
Meanwhile, the two injured youths are undergoing treatment at the government hospital.
