Vijender Singh had to huff and puff, but ultimately his resilience was good enough to beat Maimaitali and clinch both the WBO Asia Pacific Super middleweight and the WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title.
The nation rejoiced, basking in the glory of Vijender’s emphatic triumph, but while channelising their happiness, they went a bit too far in shifting the focus from sport to politics.
The Indo-China border issues were brought to the fore by many, dishing out numerous tirades on social media about how this was a short revenge for China nibbling away at India’s border.
But Vijender Singh has urged people to refrain from waging war and to focus on fostering peace between the two neighbouring countries.
“To India-China friendship (I dedicate my title), because tension on the border is not good, because I see on social media, news, it keeps getting on and on and that’s not good. I give this title to people, peace, it’s all about friendship, Hindi-Chini bhai bhai,” Vijender Singh told the media.
Speakign about the gruesome battle with Zulpikar, Vijender said that he did not expect it to go all the way(10 rounds) and was ecstatic to have come out on top.
“The fight was really good, I didn’t expect (it will go all the way), it was 10 rounds, at times the Chinese products last a little long, it was an amazing fight and fun! The fight was tough and a lot of blood oozed out, but finally win was ours, it was nice,” Vijender said.
During the fight there were a few instances when Zulpikar hit Vijender below the belt, which evidently rattled Vijender to some extent.
“As you have seen, 3-4 times he (Zulpikar) hit below the belt and that disturbed me, that was a foul and the refree gave him a warning.” Vijender said
“It’s painful and it disturbed your game, you have planned in the mind and when you get that kind of below the belt punches, that distract you. He is young kid, strong kid, but it’s all about winning,” he added.
The duo shared a wonderful moment after the bout, when Zulpikar gave Vijender his cap.
“He (Zulpikar) gave me that cap, he said I asked him for the cap and he gave it to me, I simply gave him the belt but he couldn’t understand it.” he said.
Vijender revealed that he would soon be challenging for the world championship.
Just pray for me, one day I will be a world champion. I would like to thank everyone who came for this fight. It was great to see you all,” he concluded.
