Thapa loses battle for Olympic quota at the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships
Shiva Thapa lost 0-3 to highly-rated Belarusian youngster Dzmitry Asanau in the bantam 56kg third-place box-off in the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championship in Doha. With this loss, the Indian missed out on an opportunity to seal his qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics
Thapa went into this third-place and Olympic quota match-up after losing 0-3 to Uzebekistan's Murudjon Akhmadaliev in the semifinals. The 21-year-old was already assured of a bronze medal for his efforts, but this match against Asanau was a golden opportunity to seal his place for next year's Summer Games.
Asanau became a national champion at 19 and is  rated highly in global boxing. He appeared a bit tense early on in the opening round before quickly settling in. Thapa lost a closely-fought first round, with all the three judges favoring Asanau 10-9.
Both pugilists took an aggressive approach in the second round, landing a flurry of punches on each other. With two minutes remaining, the 19-year-old landed a terrific short-left. Thapa replied with a good left hook, but Asanau displayed his counter-punching ability with a right jab. The Belarusian won the second round 10-9,leaving Thapa with no option but to go for broke in the third.
The Indian made a positive start with a solid jab, but he was in need of a 10-8 margin (or) knockout in order to win this bout. Thapa tried to cut down the ring and push his opponent into a corner, but Asanau displayed good ring craft and was also fast on his feet. All three judges gave Thapa the third round 10-9 but the margin wasn't enough to give him the overall victory.
The loss, however, doesn't yet put to waste Thapa's effort in the Championships. Michael Conlan, who in the subsequent bout defeated Murudjon of Uzbekistan to win the title, has two Oympic quota spots with him, having grabbed the WSB Rankings quota at the start of the year. He will have to chose by end of November which of the two quotas to keep. Thapa can get the Olympic quota on the basis of his fourth place finish in case Conlan decides to relinquish the World Championship quota. Alternatively, Thapa can also qualify through subsequent quota events like the Continental Olympic Qualifying Events of Asia.
