Samota and Thapa Make it to the Final of the "BELGRADE WINNER"

Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Paramjeet Samota (+91kg) and silver medallist at the 2010 Youth Olympics Shiva Thapa (56kg) made a place in the finals at the “Belgrade Winner”, the international tournament in Serbia, after beating their respective opponents.

Paramjeet SamotaSamota, who also won a bronze medal at the 2010 Asian games, continued his winning streak in the super heavyweight category with a win over the strong Kazak, Rygebayev Rustam. Paramjeet, who was leading after the first two rounds, lost the advantage to Rustam in the third.

The resilient pugilist, though, made stunning recovery in the end to seal a birth in the final. He won by virtue of points 10:8. Samota had earlier pulverized his Mongolian opponent, Davolkhagva Iderbat on points 25:10 in the quarters to secure his place in the last four. He will not take on Marceta Mane from Bosnia and Herzegovina in his bid for the gold.

shiva Thapa

Wunderkind Shiva Thapa (56 KG) riding his purple patch drubbed Hungarian opponent Nagy Krisztian, 12:7 to enter the final. Thapa a silver-medallist from the Youth World Championships beat Scottish boxer Ham Joe 5:1 in the first round to make a place in the semi-final. The 17 year old has displayed exceptional skill in the tournament and will now face Bulgaria, Delaklive Detelin in the battle to be crowned the champion at the “Belgrade Winner”.

But there was disappointment for India in the form of Manpreet Singh who lost to Pulev Tervel of also Bulgaria. Manpreet the silver medallist at the Asian Games had fought well in the quarters to get the better of Algeria’s Bouloudinats Chou 15-12. But the in semis, Tervel proved to be too strong for the heavyweight boxer. He will now have to settle with a bronze medal performance.

Earlier in the tournament, Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Kuldeep Singh (75kg) lost their opening round bouts. Manoj went down 1:3 to Munkhardene Uranch of Mongolia while Kuldeep lost his bout to local favourite Jovanovic Nikola with an identical score.