Shiva Thapa in final, 5 others in semis

New Delhi, July 27:
Asian silver-medallist Shiva Thapa (60kg) and Gaurav Bidhuri entered the finals while five other Indians made the semifinals at the Grand Prix Usti Nad Labem boxing tournament in Czech Republic.
Shiva defeated local favourite Erik Huleiv in a unanimous verdict to advance. Bidhuri (52kg) made the final in his category after getting a bye.
Five other Indians were also assured of bronze medals. They were Kavinder Bisht (52kg), Amit Phangal (49kg), Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and Manish Panwar (81kg) and Manoj Kumar (69kg).
While Sumit defeated Czech Republic’s Jiri Horky, Manish got the better of Belgium’s Yassine Aydir. The rest advanced with byes.
Entering the last-eight stage owing to opening-round bye was Satish Kumar (+91kg) and Ashish Kumar (64kg).
Seven of the nine Indian boxers competing in this tournament have qualified for the World Championships in Hamburg, Germany from August 25 to September 2.(PTI)