When you meet Shiva Thapa, the first thing that strikes you is his baby face and his maturity. When most teens spend their time discovering the varied facets of life, Shiva has spent it learning his craft. He is 19, but he is an Asian champion, an Olympian, a silver medallist at the Youth Olympics. The list goes on.
Shiva’s only craving right now is to know his opponents. Ask him to recollect the days when he picked up the gloves, he invariably says like a child, “Please talk to my dad.”
His house is in a nondescript corner of Guwahati called Birubari, which gained prominence only after his selection to the India team for the Olympics. His elder brother, Govind, inspired him to take up the sport.
His father Padam Thapa has been the guiding force, helping him out with everything out of the ring. “We even changed his school so that his game didn’t get affected. He used to study in St John’s but we had to shift him to a school close by so that he got time to concentrate on the sport,” says Thapa Sr. His father is always there to see him off when he goes for international events. “He likes it and I do it.”
“Initially, we were not sure whether studies or sports would be the best for him, because in this part of the country, if you don’t have good schooling, you struggle. But the promise he showed forced us to make up our minds.” Shiva used to ride pillion with his father to the boxing centre in Paltan Bazar. Later, he was selected for Army Sports Institute in Pune.
With not too many friends in Guwahati, Shiva loves to laze around when at home. His coaches feel he has the potential to go all the way. “He is a calculated boxer and he plays with his head,” says National coach GS Sandhu. A believer in hard work, Shiva thinks it is practice and more practice that makes a man perfect. Right now, he has trained his sights on the world championships.