Indian boxer hands back title belt to soothe China tensions

AN INDIAN boxer has offered to return the WBO belt he won from a Chinese rival as a “message of peace” amid an increasingly fraught border dispute between the two countries.

Vijender Singh, an Olympic medallist, earned the WBO Oriental Super Middleweight Title after he beat Zulpikar Maimaitiali on points in Mumbai on Saturday evening.

But the 31-year-old, speaking from within the ring, then said: “I don’t want this title. I want to give it back to Zulpikar. I want to dedicate this win to China-india friendship.”

Mr Maimaitiali, who threw several punches below the belt during the 10-round contest, has not responded to the offer and WBO rules may mean he cannot be given back the title.

But the extraordinary offer counts as the most high-profile piece of diplomacy in a stand-off over Himalayan territory that has simmered for two months.

India’s government objects to Chinese plans to build a road through the Dokhlam region (or Donglang in Mandarin), a plateau that links India, China and Bhutan.

Officials say that troops now face each other 150 yards apart, raising fears of a repeat of the 1962 war that was ignited by Chinese road-building in a different part of the 3,500km frontier shared by India and China.

India, objecting on behalf of Bhutan, is concerned that the road would grant access to its strategically vulnerable corridor linking north-eastern states to the Indian mainland.