Rising star of Indian boxing, Shiva Thapa (56kg), became the youngest Indian Pugilist to win a gold medal at the Asian Championships in Amman, Jordan on Monday, July 8, 2013. The 19-year old ONGCian from Assam defeated home favourite Obada Alkabeh on a split decision of 2-1 after fighting out a tactically superior bout.
The nimble-footed boxer, who made his Olympic debut in London last year, thus Followed Suranjoy Singh (2009) and Rajkumar Sangwan (1994) into the history books as a rare Indian gold-medalist at the premier continental event.
"Shiva fought an excellent bout. He applied his brain and dominated all three rounds. The decision may have been split but he was clearly the better boxer among the two," national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said from Amman.
A boxer of immense potential Shiva Thapa is from Guwahati, Assam. He was born as the youngest of six siblings to Padam Thapa, a karate instructor in Guwahati on December 8, 1993. His father and his elder brother Gobind Thapa, an Assam state-level medal winning boxer, were sources of inspiration for the young Thapa. Mike Tyson's bouts also inspired him to take the sport seriously. Padam noticed his son's flair for boxing and made sure that his youngest son got all that he needed to be a successful boxer. Shiva rose early in the mornings to balance his training and studies. His practice first started in the living room of their house at the age of seven. He admits that without the support of ONGC, first in the form of scholarship and then by employment, it would not have been possible for him to make it to the top level.
ONGC has rich sports equity with over 200 sportspersons, out of which 70 are current international achievers. One of them has been conferred with Khel Ratna, 2 with Padma Shree and 14 with Arjuna Awards. Promoting sports and sportspersons is one of the 12 focus areas of ONGC CSR.
Corporate Sports Division
