GUWAHATI, April 11 � City boy Shiva Thapa made Assam proud by clinching a berth in the London Olympics scheduled to be held from July 27 to August 12.In the semifinal of the 56 kg weight category at Asian Qualifiers� in Astana, Kazakhstan today, Shiva earned a convincing 31-17 point victory against his Japanese counterpart Satoshi Simizo. With a place in the final the 18-year old Shiva became the youngest Indian boxer to qualify for the Olympics.
Itwas Shiv�s second senior international championship.
Another city boy archer Jayanta Talukdar has already qualified for London Games.
Shiva�s father, who has been his mentor and motivator, said today his worthy son has earned most of his points through right straights. �Shiva today performed superbly and despite being trailing by one point (6-7) in the first round came back strongly in the second and went ahead 15-6. After that he did not have to look back. He also thanked the people of the State for their backing to his son.
Shiva is the only boxer from Assam to qualify for Olympics. Earlier, Dr T Ao (football), Dipankar Bhattacharjee (badminton) had represented tye country in Olympics. (See page-).
