Thapa’s Pacquiao inspiration keeps his Rio Olympic dream alive

Thapa’s Pacquiao inspiration keeps his Rio Olympic dream alive

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Shiva Thapa’s knockout of Morrocan Hamout Mohamed in the pre-quarters earned him a nod of appreciation from none other than Manny Pacquiao, regarded widely as a modern boxing great. The Indian's impressive run in Doha also saw him become only the third Indian after Vijender Singh and Vikas Krishan to bag a World Boxing Championship medal.

Any other time a World Championship bronze medal would have been sufficient reason for a ticker-tape welcome in a medal-starved nation. Only, this year happens to be one of those that come once in four, when competition at the World Championships is not just about medals. It carries a lot more. It is about the opportunity of securing a quota berth in the Olympics. And that’s what Thapa missed out on after losing the third-place box-off to Belarusian youngster Dzmitry Asanau.

The talented 56 kg bantam weight boxer, however, has not given up hope for next year’s Rio Games.

“I will give World Series Boxing a shot because there is a chance to qualify for Olympics from there. So that is definitely on my mind and should work out by November. If it doesn’t, then the Asian Olympic qualifiers are also there in March,” Thapa told PTI news agency. Thapa was part of the USA WSB franchise last year, and, although he tasted little success, his free-flowing style caught the eye of both experts and promoters.

In fact, he sounds super charged-up. “I am certainly more confident about myself after the World Championships. There is self-belief that I can stand up to any guy whether it’s a Kazakh, whether it’s an Uzbek. The draw, which can cause a few butterflies in the stomach sometimes, I don’t think it matters anymore,” he added.

And he is not leaving everything to chance either.

Thapa’s efforts at the World Championship might not go to waste in the end. But that is left completely to the discretion of Michael Conlan, who won the bantam title in Doha. The Irishman 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.

“I feel I have become a lot more steady in my mind, I think better in the ring, adapt better and my back-paddling has improved drastically. Besides, I realised my left hook is damn good and I should be using it more often,” said Thapa, talking about his boxing.

“But yes, I have to keep improving because I did lose. Although, I would say I am very satisfied with how I performed. I could not win the semis and the box-off, but I made sure that I didn’t feel let down by my performance. I managed to show that I am no pushover against anybody.”

Mention Pacquiao and Thapa smiles.

“While I was walking towards the ring for my bout, he (Pacquiao) was going towards the stands to meet the Filipino team. So, we crossed each other and it was nice of him to wish me luck. After the knockout win, the AIBA Magazine commentators said that my winning left hook was the shot of the day and it caught the eye of Manny Pacquiao. It was a huge confidence-booster,” Thapa said. “But I could not meet him in person because he was with the Filipino team all through.”

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