Dubai, May 31

Sanjeet fetched the lone gold among the Indian men even as defending champion Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa settled for silver medals in the Asian Boxing Championships here today.

Sanjeet (91kg) triumphed 4-1 over Kazakhstan’s Olympics silver-medallist Vassiliy Levit, who was chasing his fourth gold of the tournament. The Army man, 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.

With 15 medals in this edition, India surpassed its previous best show at this championship, achieved in 2019, when the country secured 13 medals in all, including two gold. This time too, the country finished with two gold medals.

Panghal (52kg) lost 3-2 to known nemesis Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in what was a repeat of the 2019 World Championships final, which had also ended in Zoirov’s favour.

India sought a review of the second round of the bout but the protest was rejected by the jury, which stuck to the original decision.

Thapa (64kg) also lost by the same margin to Mongolia’s Baatarsukh Chinzorig, the Asian Games silver-medallist. This was Thapa’s fifth successive podium finish and second silver at the showpiece.

Both the contests had the Indian boxers doing most things right but not getting the judges’ nod.

The Panghal-Zoirov clash lived up to the hype, with both the Olympics-bound boxers engaging in a fast exchange of punches from the start. Zoirov claimed the opening round but Panghal raised his game by a notch in the second, evading the reigning Olympics champion’s range with his pace and landing his left straights precisely. Zoirov, on the other hand, struggled to connect.

The two went all out in the third round but it was Panghal who was more impressive with his body shots despite an injured eye. He even had the judges’ verdict in his favour for the round but it was not enough to alter the final scoreline.

Thapa was equally impressive against Chinzorig, rallying brilliantly after losing the opening round. But he lost the all-important final round in a fight that became messy due to close-range punching.

On Monday, Pooja Rani (75kg) was the lone woman boxer to strike gold, while six-time world champion MC Mary Kom (51kg) and tournament debutants Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) and Anupama (+81kg) ended with silver medals after close losses in the finals.

Eight Indians — Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Jasmine (57kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (64kg), Monika (48kg), Saweety (81kg) and Varinder Singh (60kg) — secured bronze medals after semifinal losses. — PTI