Asian Boxing Championships: Amit Panghal, Shiva Thapa settle for silver; Panghal loses to Olympic champion

Dubai, May 31: Ace India boxer and defending champion Amit Panghal (52kg) on Monday (May 31) settled for a silver medal in the ASBC Asian Boxing Championships in Dubai after going down fighting against reigning world and Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan.

The Indian pugilist lost the bout in a split verdict of 2-3 in what was a repeat of the 2019 world championship final where Panghal lost to the Uzbek boxer.

The defending champion Panghal 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.

Asian Boxing Championships: Pooja Rani finishes off in style to clinch second successive gold

Another Indian pugilist Shiva Thapa (64kg) too suffered a close defeat by split 2-3 against the Asian Games silver medallist Mongolia's Baatarsukh Chinzorig. The world championships bronze medallist is only the second male boxer in the world to win five medals at the Asian Championships. The 27-year-old pugilist from Assam had previously won gold in 2013, silver in 2017 and two bronze in 2015 and 2019.

The 19-member Indian contingent has secured an unprecedented 15 medals and ensured the country's best-ever show surpassing the previous best of 13 medals (2 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze) achieved during the 2019 edition in Bangkok.

Earlier, during a high-voltage 52kg summit clash between the top two seeds, both the boxers showed great skills and attacked from the word go. The second round saw defending champion Panghal taking time as he was more accurate, hit timely punches with more power and was sharp in defence as well. However, Zoirov fought back well in time and managed to tilt the game in his favour.

India, however, lodged its protest and contested the round two decision of the split verdict and the surprise loss of their pugilist but it was not accepted by the Jury Commission.

The protest lodged by Indian Team had not been accepted by the Jury Commission and @Boxerpanghal ends his ASBC #AsianEliteBoxingChampionships campaign with a 🥈 medal 🙌🏻 https://t.co/AjcrPRnISA

— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) May 31, 2021

The contest, however, lived up to its billings as both the Olympic-bound pugilists engaged in a fast exchange of punches from the start of the bout. Panghal's opponent claimed the opening round.

In the second round, Panghal raised his game by a notch, evading Zoirov's range with his pace and landing his left straights precisely. Zoirov, on the other hand, struggled to connect.

In the final round, the finalists went all out but the Indian seemed was more impressive with his body shots despite an eye injury. He even had the judges' verdict in his favour for the round but it wasn't enough to alter the final score-line.

Earlier, Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Varinder Singh (60kg) secured bronze medals in the men's section with their semi-final finish.

In the women's section, Pooja Rani (75kg) clinched her second successive gold medal while seasoned campaigner Mary Kom (51kg), Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) and Anupama (+81kg) grabbed silver medals.

Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Jaismine (57kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (54kg), Monika (48kg) and Saweety (81kg) secured bronze as all the boxers of 10-member Indian women's team returned with medal at the on-going championships which is jointly hosted by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and UAE Boxing Federation.

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.