India's 5 biggest hopes at the Rio Olympics 2016
The Olympic Games are only a few months away, and the best athletes from each country will head to Rio de Janiero, Brazil to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games. With the world’s best sporting talent on display in August, we look at India’s 5 biggest hopes at the event.
Shiva Thapa
The young boxer was the only Indian to qualify for the Olympics at the AIBA Asian and Oceanic Olympic qualification event last month in China, and is ranked third in the world in his category. The No. 3 Bantamweight has made an Olympic appearance before, at London 2012, and had then become the youngest Indian boxer to qualify for the Olympics.
Unfortunately for Thapa, he lost out in the first round of the London Olympics to Oscar Valdez Fierro, but only 18-years-old at the time, proved his talent on the world stage.
Since then, the Indian youngster has gone on to win a series of titles. After clinching gold in 2013 at the Asian Boxing Confederation Championships, he participated in that year’s World Boxing Championships, managing to progress to the quarter-finals of the event.
One of the first Indian boxers signed to the World Series of Boxing, Thapa participated in the WSB in 2014.
He has been strong this year, and with the experience of one Olympic Games and the maturity that comes with age, Thapa could win India a medal in Rio this August.