Asian Boxing Championship 2021: Sanjeet strikes gold as Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa settle for silver

Asian Boxing Championship 2021: Sanjeet strikes gold as Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa settle for silver

Amit Panghal

Amit Panghal failed to defend his Asian Boxing Championship as he lost the final 3-2 to World and Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan. The split decision in the final of the 52 kg event went against the Indian as he suffered a third straight loss at the hands of Zoirov. Panghal had lost in the 2019 World championships and more recently at the Governor’s Cup in Russia.

The top two seeds of the category got off to a fast start setting up for an exciting contest. Panghal did well to bounce back mid way but the jury ended up deciding in the Uzbek’s favour. India launched an official protest against the split decision which was later rejected by the Jury Commission. It was a repeat of the 2019 World Championship final in which the Indian had lost and had to settle for silver.

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Shiva Thapa settles for silver as his fifth successive medal in the Asian Boxing Championship; Sanjeet strikes gold

Shiva Thapa
Shiva Thapa

Shiva Thapa too faltered in a hard-fought final as he lost to Baatarsükhiin Chinzorig of Mongolia. It was yet another split decision as Shiva lost 3-2 to the Mongolian. This the Indian’s fifth straight medal in the championship making him the most successful Indian in the history of the Championship. The only other pugilist with five Asian championship medals is Kazakh legend Vassiliy Levit, an Olympic silver medallist and two-time world bronze-winner.

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In the 90 kg category, Sanjeet returned with a gold medal, India’s second of the championship. The Indian did well to hold his ground against Olympic silver-medallist Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan. Despite coming into the final round low on confidence, Sanjeet gave it his best to clinch India’s only gold in the men’s category this edition.

In total, India finished the Asian Boxing Championship 2021 with 2 gold, 5 silver and 8 bronze medals. Sanjeet and Pooja Rani were the ones who went to dominate their categories while Tokyo Olympic bound Amit Panghal and Mary Kom along with Shiva Thapa, Lalbuatsaihi and Anupama had to settle for silver.

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