Nepal’s historic medallist Chandra Bahadur Thapa received a warm welcome in the Tribhuvan Airport today
Nepal and Turkmenistan made historic results on the seventh competition day at the IBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships in Dubai. Nepal never had any quarter-finalists in the men’s competition in the past and their Chandra Bahadur Thapa moved even more forward with his bronze medal in Dubai.
Nepal’s Lal Prasad Upreti made a history in the fifth competition day when he became his nation’s first ever male boxer, who joined to the quarter-finals in a World Championship of all-time and he earned 10,000 USD.
Nepal’s second historic quarter-finalist, Chandra Bahadur Thapa had an Asian opponent, the 19-year-old Iranian, Mehdi Kazemi, who claimed a bronze at the 2024 IBA Youth World Boxing Championships. The Nepali bantamweight (54kg) boxer continued the same technician performance and strategy throughout the three rounds and he is Nepal’s first ever medallist in any World Boxing Championships.
The Minister for Youth and Sports Mr. Bablu Gupta, Member-Secretary of the National Sports Council (NSC) Ramcharitra Mehta, NSC Executive Committee member Kamal Bahadur Bhattarai, senior officials from the Nepal Police, deputy director for National Team preparation, and an NBF official greeted the boxing team at Tribhuvan International Airport.
The young Nepalese athlete Chandra triumphed over competitors from Armenia, Indonesia, and Iran to claim the bronze medal. Besides the bronze, Chandra also won a cash award of 75,000 US dollars and he was defeated in the semi-finals only by Saken Bibossynov of Kazakhstan, the eventual winner.
Chandra is the sole Nepali boxer to achieve a medal in global boxing. Together with Chandra, five competitors from Nepal took part in the event. Phunglang Kamwang in 51 kg, Khagendra Roka Magar in 60 kg, and Deepak Shrestha in 80 kg also competed in the event.
The other three pugilists were eliminated in the initial round, and the squad was guided by head coach Mr. Prakash Thapa Magar, alongside coaches Mr. Deepak Maharjan and Mr. Sujit Pun Magar.
Chandra Bahadur Thapa noted that this accomplishment was made possible through the support and collaboration of all, adding that he would aim for further success. Having more events to participate in both domestically and internationally will enable us to improve in the future. The welcome program was conducted by Mr. Puskar Raj Pant, the Secretary of the Boxing Federation.
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