Asian Boxing C’ship: Sanjeet Grabs Gold; Panghal, Thapa Win Silver

Sanjeet after winning Gold at the Asian Boxing Championship in Dubai 

Image: BFI

Sanjeet pulled off a massive upset in the 91kg final when he defeated Olympic Silver medalist Vassily Levit to clinch Gold in the heavyweight event at the Asian Boxing Championship in Dubai. Sanjeet won his final 4-1.

Earlier, Amit Panghal lost to Olympic champion Zoirov Shakhobidin of Uzbekistan 2-3 in a split decision in the final of the 52 kg event, settling for Silver along with Shiva Thapa who he lost 2-3 against Mongolia's Baatarsukh Chinzorig in a close bout.

The Boxing Federation of India however announced they lodged a protest on the Amit Panghal verdict but the Jury Commission did not yield.

Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin is the defending world champion and had a 2-0 win-loss record against Panghal. The Indian had lost in the 2019 World Championships and more recently at the Governor’s Cup in Russia.

The second seed, Sanjeet, just about stayed in the bout against Levit, who was chasing his fourth Gold at the Asian Championships, but appeared confident at the end of three rounds even as the commentators felt the Kazakh star had done enough.

Sanjeet, who is a former India Open gold-medallist, claimed the first two rounds in an evenly-contested bout before Levit fought back in the final three minutes.

The world championship bronze medallist, Thapa, is the only second male boxer in the world to win five medals at the Asian Championships. The 27-year-old Assam boxer has previously won gold in 2013, silver in 2017 and two bronze in 2015 and 2019.

In the women’s draw, Pooja Rani (75kg) clinched her second successive Gold while the veteran Mary Kom (51kg), Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) and Anupama (+81kg) returned with Silver medals.

Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Jaismine (57kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (54kg), Monika (48kg) and Saweety (81kg) bagged Bronze as all the boxers of 10-member Indian women’s team finished their campaign in Dubai with a medal.