Indian boxer Sanjeet put up a solid show against the three-time Asian champion Vassiliy Levit in the men’s 91kg final to hand country its second gold at the 2021 ASBC Asian Championships in Dubai on Monday.
Sanjeet managed a convincing 4-1 victory against the Rio Olympic silver medallist Kazkhak boxer as Indian contingent concluded their successful campaign with an unprecedented 15 medals, including two gold, five silver and eight bronze at the championships which is jointly hosted by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and UAE Boxing Federation. On the other hand, Amit Panghal (52kg) and Shiva Thapa (64kg) ended with silver after suffering defeats in their respective finals.
On Sunday Pooja Rani (75kg) had secured India’s first gold at the on-going event. Seasoned campaigner Mary Kom (51kg), Panghal, Thapa, Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) and Anupama (+81kg) grabbed silver medals. However, eight boxers—Vikas Krishan (69kg) Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Jaismine (57kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (54kg), Monika (48kg), Saweety (81kg) and Varinder Singh (60kg)—returned with bronze at the championships as the 19-member Indian contingent ensured the country’s best-ever show surpassing the previous highest of 13 medals achieved during the 2019 edition in Bangkok.
“This has been a challenging year for all of us and despite all the uncertainties our boxers had to undergo, it is absolutely heartening to see them ending the Asian Championships campaign with 15 medals including 2 golds and some close decisions that of Amit Panghal and Mary Kom in the finals. Our boxers have yet again ensured a record-breaking feat and am extremely proud of each one of them,” BFI President Ajay Singh said. Earlier on Monday night during India’s first bout, the defending champion Panghal went down fighting against the reigning Olympics champion Zoirov Shakhobidin in a hard-fought men’s 52kg final. The World Championships silver medallist put up a great fight against the world champion but it wasn’t enough for the Indian to go past Uzbek boxer as he suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat with 29-28, 28-29, 28-29, 28-29, 30-27 scoreline. The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has allocated USD 4,00,000 prize money for this Championships. The gold medallists of men’s and women’s categories are awarded with USD 10,000 while both the silver and bronze medal winners take home USD 5,000 and 2,500 respectively.
