Sanjeet bags gold in Asian boxing

DUBAI, May 31: Sanjeet (91kg) fetched the lone gold among Indian men boxers with a stunning triumph over Kazakhstan’s Olympic-medallist Vassiliy Levit even as defending champion Amit Panghal (52kg) and Shiva Thapa (64kg) settled for silver medals in the Asian Boxing Championships here on Monday.
Sanjeet triumphed 4-1 over Levit, who was chasing his fourth gold of the tournament and is an Olympic silver-medallist.
With 15 medals in this edition, India surpassed its previous best-ever 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.
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.
Panghal lost 2-3 to known nemesis Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in what was a repeat of the 2019 world championship final, which had also ended in Zoirov’s favour.
Thapa (64kg) also lost by the same margin to Mongolia’s Baatarsukh Chinzorig, the reigning 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. (PTI)