India’s Padam Bahadur Mall was the Best Boxer in the Jakarta 1962 Asian Games

The 1962 edition of the Asian Games was held in the Indonesian capital in Jakarta between August 24 and September 4. The event was the fourth Asian Games and the third boxing tournament in the history of the multisport event. South Korea topped the medal rankings in 1962 with their three gold medals in Jakarta where the host country bagged only silver and bronze medals.
The first boxing tournament was held in 7 men weight classes in Manila but in the second edition boxers could attend in 10 different categories. Boxers could attend in the next 1962 Jakarta edition also in 10 weight classes from the 51kg up to the +81kg categories. India’s Padam Bahadur Mall was named as the Best Boxer of the 1962 Asian Games.
Altogether 65 boxers from 11 countries attended in the boxing tournament of the Jakarta 1962 Asian Games. Strong boxers arrived to the Indonesian capital city from the following nations: Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
South Korea claimed three gold medals; Japan and Pakistan both took two titles in the Jakarta 1962 Asian Games. Thailand, Philippines and India also won one weight class in the Games where 10 nations out of the participating 11 took at least a bronze. The venue of the boxing tournament was the Outdoor Tennis Stadium in Jakarta.
The first gold medal of the boxing tournament of the 1962 Asian Games was achieved by South Korea’s Chung Shin Cho who claimed silver later at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games. The 22-year-old South Korean flyweight (51kg) boxer defeated Japan’s Masao Karasawa in the first final of the Games.
Kiyoshi Tanabe achieved a bronze medal at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games becoming the first Japanese boxer to win an Olympic medal. Following that historical medal he won the title in the Jakarta 1962 Olympic Games after beating Indonesia’s No.1 Frans Soplanit in the final of the bantamweight (54kg).
South Korea’s Kim Deuk Bong took bronze medal in the 1958 Asian Games which he changed to gold in 1962. Pakistan did not take any titles before the 1962 edition but in Jakarta Muhammad Safdar and Barkat Ali both were crowned in the Games.

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