Shiva Thapa on Friday pulled off a big win and clinched a gold medal while defending champions Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) retained their crown with 10 medals at the 6th Elite Men's National Boxing Championships 2022 in Hisar on Friday.

Shiva Thapa strikes a golden punch, retains his crown in the Men's National Boxing Championships 2022 | Sportz Point — Image- Jagran English

It was a comfortable final day for record six-time Asian medalist Shiva Thapa of Assam. He defeated Railway Sports Promotion Board's (RSPB) Ankit Narwal by a margin of 5-0 in the 63.5kg final. In contrast, Mohammad Hussamuddin of SSCB had to fight hard to pull off a victory against 2016 world youth champion Sachin of RSPB in the 57kg final. After suffering a defeat in last year's final, the two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medalist produced a brilliant performance to seal the victory this time with a scoreline of 4-1.

NATIONAL CHAMPION FOR THE THIRD CONSECUTIVE TIME 🥊🙌

TAKE A BOW, SHIVA THAPA 👏👏#NationalBoxingChampionship #ShivaThapa #IndianBoxing #Hisar #Haryana pic.twitter.com/es9pzQrbvK
— nnis (@nnis_sports) January 6, 2023

At the same time, Narender (+92) got a walkover in his final bout against 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Sagar. Sagar could not participate in the match due to a minor injury. SSCB boxers along with Hussamuddin and Narender put up a fine performance on the final day of the tournament. The team successfully defended its crown in the Men's National Boxing Championships 2022. They bagged a total of six gold, one silver, and three bronze medals. Bishwamitra Chongtham (51kg), Sachin (54kg), Akash (67kg), and Sumit (75kg) are the other gold medalists from the team.

Meanwhile, RSPB with two gold, three silver, and two bronze, and Punjab with one gold, two silver, and six bronze stood second and third respectively. Local boxers Abhimanyu Loura (80kg) and Naveen Kumar (92kg) ended their impressive campaigns with hard-fought victories. Both got gold in their respective weight categories.

Abhimanyu, who registered a stunning win against Tokyo Olympian Ashish Kumar in the quarter-finals, repeated the same composure and confidence in his final bout against Chandigarh's Sahil. The 2019 Asian Youth Championships bronze medalist faced stiff competition from his opponent. But he used his technical ability to win 4-1.

Naveen, on the other hand, faced 2021 Asian champion SSCB K Sanjeet, a repeat of last year's final in the tournament. Sanjeet had won in that but Naveen made sure that this does not happen this year. He outclassed his opponent in a thrilling contest to secure a memorable 4-1 victory. 2022 Asian Championships bronze medalist Govind Sahani (48kg) and Varinder Singh (60kg) defended their titles and secured gold for RSPB. While Govind beat Manipur's Keisham Singh 5-0, Varinder defeated Punjab's Vijay Kumar by the same score.

Punjab's Kartik (86kg) and Karnataka's Nishant Dev (71kg) also won gold medals in their respective categories at the prestigious tournament. Apart from the medal, the Best Promising Boxer award was also presented to Abhimanyu Loura. Kartik of Punjab was awarded the Best Boxer award while Zoram Muana of Mizoram was awarded the Best Challenger award.

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