Arpil settles for bronze at Asian Boxing

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Aug. 7: Arpil Rana bowed out in the semi-finals of the Asian U19 and U22 Boxing Championships held in Bangkok, Thailand, settling for a bronze medal.

Rana locked horns with Japan’s Shodai Koto in the semi-final of flyweight (50kg) division on Wednesday. The Japanese boxer clinched victory by unanimous decision, with all five judges scoring the bout 30–27 in favour of Koto. Rana was outpointed 0–5 on the judges’ cards.

Koto now advances to the final, where he will square off against Thailand’s Thitiwat Phlongaurai, who edged past Uzbekistan’s Behruz Kholdorov with a 3–2 split decision in the other semi-final.

The 19-year-old Nepali pugilist had an impressive run to the last four. He outclassed Saudi Arabia’s Ibrahim Aljohani with a clean sweep (5–0) in the pre-quarters and then dispatched Kinle Phuntsho 4–1 in the quarter-finals.

Man Bahadur Bhandari, General Secretary of the Nepal Boxing Association, lauded Rana’s performance. “Koto is a top contender for gold in his weight class. Arpil held his own against a very strong opponent,” Bhandari said. “He’s part of the Mission 2020 elite training programme run by the National Sports Council. This initiative has significantly boosted not just Arpil’s performance, but that of many other boxers as well.”