In a big blow to India, defending bronze-medallist and fifth seed Shiva Thapa (60kg) was today forced out of the 19th World Championships owing to food poisoning and high fever.
The 24-year-old three-time Asian Championships medallist was to take on Georgia's Otar Eranosyan in his second-round contest after getting an opening round bye.
"He was throwing up all night yesterday and this morning, he was running high fever. He couldn't have fought, his body was not holding up. We tried to do everything but he was very weak," an Indian team official told PTI.
The Indian could not turn up at the arena due to high fever.
The Assam-boxer, a two-time Olympian, was among the best medal hopes for India and had been in good form coming into the tournament.
He had won a silver medal at the Asian meet, his third successive medal at the continental championships, followed by a gold medal at an invitational tournament in Czech Republic.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
