Boxing: Royal Bhutan Army boxer, Gopa Tashi Norbu’s dreams of a medal at the Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Bangkok ended abruptly after he suffered a shoulder injury in the quarterfinals yesterday.

The injury compelled the referee to stop the match in favour of his opponent from Iran, Hassan Shahini. Iran’s Hassan Shahini had beaten Tashi Norbu at a competition earlier this year in Korea. Tashi Norbu was leading the first round but suffered the injury towards the end of the round.

Tashi Norbu secured Bhutan’s first win in five years at an international competition on August 31 when he beat Vietnam’s Vo Van Que in the 81kg light heavy weight category.

Vo Van Que had moved down from the heavyweight class (91kg) proving stronger and dangerous to Tashi Norbu.

Tashi Norbu, boxing since 2007, came out the better boxer winning the contest with a single point lead in the end of three bouts.

Boxing Federation’s general secretary, Major Sonam Gyaltshen said that boxers were undergoing intensive training for the South Asian Games in Guwahati in January next year.

The last boxer from Bhutan to win a bout in a major international tournament was Sigyel Phub at the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games.

Tshering Palden