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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Sri Lanka recovers 87 bodies from Iranian warship sunk off its coast by US submarine
Colombo (AP): A US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka's navy said Wednesday it recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people.
The Iranian vessel that was sunk in the Indian Ocean was the Islamic Republic's “prize ship,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon news briefing. Hegseth said it was the first sinking of an enemy ship with a torpedo by the US since World War II.
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament that its navy received information that the IRIS Dena, with 180 people on board, was in distress and sinking. The island nation sent ships and air force planes on a rescue mission, he said.
Navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said by the time navy ships reached the location, there was no sign of the ship and “there were only some oil patches and life rafts. We found people floating on the water.”
He said the 32 people rescued were admitted to a hospital in the seaside town of Galle on the Sri Lanka's southern coast. The bodies recovered were being brought to land, he said.
Dr Anil Jasinghe, a top health ministry official, said one of those rescued is in critical condition, seven are receiving emergency treatment and others are being treated for minor injuries.
The IRIS Dena — one of Iran's newest warships — is a Moudge-class frigate that patrols in deep water for the Iranian navy. It is armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. It also carries one helicopter.
The frigate was the centerpiece of a two-ship international tour in 2023 that included port calls in countries including South Africa and Brazil. It was accompanied by the support ship IRIS Makran, a converted oil tanker.
The US Treasury Department included both ships on a sanctions designation in February 2023 along with eight executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer that supplied the weapons to Russia for use against civilian targets in Ukraine.
At least 17 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk during the ongoing war, said US Adm Brad Cooper, who leads the American military's Central Command.
“We are also sinking the Iranian navy — the entire navy,” he said in a video message.
