Vijender Singh has offered to return the championship belt he won in this weekend’s title fight over his Chinese rival in a nod to diplomacy amid a tense border standoff between New Delhi and Beijing.
The Olympic-bronze medallist extended the olive branch to Zulpikar Maimaitiali after defeating the Chinese champ in the much-anticipated double-title pro bout in Mumbai on Saturday.
The win saw the 31-year-old Indian pugilist retain not just his WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title but snatch the super middleweight belt from his Chinese opponent.
But the newly-crowned champ buried the hatchet after the fight, dedicating his victory to the “India-China friendship” and calling for an end to the distrust that has flared up over a border disagreement.
“I want to give back this belt to Zulpikar. I hope for peace in the border and the message is about peace. That is most important,” Singh said.
Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a standoff at a remote but strategically important Himalayan plateau near where Tibet, India and Bhutan meet.
The plateau gives China access to the so-called “chicken neck” – a thin strip of land connecting India’s northeastern states with the rest of the country.
The row has festered for more than a month as India and China refuse to back down in the distant but key territory.
Mistrust between the giant neighbours goes back centuries with the pair having fought a brief war in 1962 in India’s border state of Arunachal Pradesh.
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