Assam's ace pugilist 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.
The four-time Asian medallist made his international debut in the newly-introduced Olympic category of 63kg. Shiva Thapa was to fight Zakir Safiullin of Kazakhstan but Safiullin had to pull out following an injury.
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Winning the gold, Thapa expressed that the new category was easy to adapt but there were challenges such as facing boxers coming from 64kg who have given their power.
Thapa couldn't make it for the September World Championships after losing in the trials to Commonwealth Games silver-winner Manish Kaushik.
Earlier, Thapa had defeated Argon Kadiribekuulu of Kyrgyzstan 4-1 in the last-four stage bout.
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