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AWARDS AND HONOURS
YB WEB DESK. Dated: 1/15/2021 12:07:01 PM
Shiva Thapa: Recipients of Padma Shri
Shiva Thapa (born 8 December 1993) is an Indian boxer. He is employed with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. He is supported by Olympic Gold Quest and Anglian Medal Hunt Company, Shiva Thapa participated in the 2012 London Olympics, and was the youngest Indian boxer to qualify for the Olympics. Shiva Thapa is ranked 3rd in the bantamweight category in the AIBA Men's World Ranking. He is the third Indian to clinch Gold at the Asian Games. Shiva Thapa is the third Indian boxer to win a medal at the AIBA World Boxing Championships. He is now an Account Manager with Midland Credit management. Career Early life Shiva Thapa is the youngest of six children born to an Indian Gorkha father Padam Thapa, a karate instructor in Guwahati. His elder brother Gobind Thapa was an Assam state-level medal winning boxer; Mike Tyson's bouts also inspired him to take the sport seriously. Shiva rose as early as 3 a.m. in the mornings to balance his training and studies. Padam ensured that the monthly expenditure of ₹30,000 (US$420) was taken care of. Olympic Gold Quest, a not-for-profit foundation to identify and support Indian athletes, decided to support the young boxer as a part of their Vision 2016 initiative While signing Thapa, Viren Rasquinha, the chief operating officer of Olympic Gold Quest said: Shiva is an enormous talent. He must be groomed well because he has the talent, the right attitude and the hunger to succeed. OGQ has very high hopes from Shiva and I am confident that he will become one of India's top boxing stars in the near future. Amateur career At the 2008 Children Asia International Sports Games that was held in Yakutsk (Russia) Shiva Thapa won a bronze medal in his category. At the same year's Haider Aliyev Cup, he won the gold medal. Owing to this performance, he was chosen to represent India in the 52-kg category at the 2009 Junior World Boxing Championships in Armenia. Incidentally, Thapa was the lone international medalist from the team of seven boxers that travelled to Yerevan. Though Thapa ended up with a bronze medal, the coach expressed his satisfaction at the boxers' performance who returned with their biggest haul of medals from this competition. At the 2010 Asian Youth Boxing Championships in Tehran, Thapa failed to reach the semifinals in his category. At the Second Youth World Amateur Boxing Championships,