Manish Kaushik upstages Shiva

New Delhi: Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom advanced to the final but Shiva Thapa and Manoj Kumar settled for bronze medals after upset semi-final losses in the India Open boxing tournament for men and women in New Delhi on Wednesday.Seeded 12th, Mary Kom (48kg) was up against a rather gritty Mongolian Altansetseg Lutsaikhan.

However, there was a major upset in the men's draw when world and Asian medallist Shiva (60kg), seeded top in his category, settled for a bronze after going down in a unanimous verdict to fellow Indian Manish Kaushik. Both the boxers fought hard in a bout fought on counter- attack but Manish got the judges' nod for perhaps being a shade better on accuracy.

This was Shiva's second loss to Manish after the national championships final last year.
Former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (69kg) also made a shock exit after going down in a split decision to compatriot Dinesh in another fiercely-contested bout.

In contrast, Asian bronze-medallist and light flyweight (49kg) top seed Amit Panghal advanced to the final after a split verdict over compatriot Nutlai Lalbiakimma. In the women's draw, top seed L Sarita Devi (60kg) was up against fellow Indian Priyanka and in a bout fought on even keel, the former managed to get a split verdict in her favour.

Sarita will face Finland's Olympic and world bronze-medallist Mira Potkonen in her summit clash. Three-time King's Cup gold-medallist K Shyam Kumar (49kg), and Asian Games bronze-medallist Satish Kumar (+91kg) also made the finals.