India’s legendary boxer enters semis; assures herself of seventh medal, which makes her most successful ever
At 35, the mother of three MC Mary Kom has taken yet another giant leap to assure herself of another medal by defeating China’s Wu Yu 5-0 and enter the semifinals at the Women’s World Boxing Championship here on Tuesday.
This would be Mary Kom’s first medal since the 2010 World Championships, where she won the gold. Overall, she has won five gold and one silver till date, having played her first WC dating back in 2001.
The Manipuri pugilist, who is a Member of Parliament, defeated Wu in the light flyweight 48-kg category to enter the last four stage and be assured of at least a bronze.
With this win, Mary Kom became the most successful boxer in the history of women’s boxing after surpassing Irish legend Katie Taylor’s record of six medals at the WC.
On Tuesday, Mary Kom was clearly the better boxer with nimble footwork and clean punches. Wu failed to land a single punch throughout the three rounds. All five judges acknowledged this while awarding Indian a favourable score of 30-27, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28, 30-27 at the end.
The 2012 London Games bronze medallist will now face North Korea’s Kim Hyang Mi on Thursday. The Indian boxer has defeated the North Korean in the Asian Championships last year.
“I am confident of winning next bout. But not overconfident,” Mary Kom said after her bout.
More Indians in last 4
Lovlina Borgohain also joined her senior colleague Mary Kom in the semifinals in the first session on Tuesday. She overcame Australia’s Kaye Scott in an equally convincing fashion in the 69-kg welterweight category as the judges awarded her a unanimous decision.
Lovlina knew that it would not be an easy bout against the Aussie, who had defeated her earlier. But the Assam girl started off confidently landing few straight punches on Scot. That upset the rhythm of her opponent and eventually helped her sweep the bout 30-27, 29-28, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
Lovlina was part of Indian squad at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, but lost to eventual gold medallist Sandy Ryan of England.
However, it was a contrasting result for her other Assam colleague, Bhagyabati Kachari, who lost to Colombian Jessica Sinisterra in a split decision verdict.
Later on, Sonia Chahal and Simranjit Kaur also entered semifinals to take the host nation tally to four in the medal round.
Sonia, whose earlier victory over Stanimira Petrova on Monday was marred with controversy, won yet another close bout against Columbia’s Yeni Castanada on split decision. Simranjit showed some smart tactical moves during her victory over Ireland’s Amy Broadhurst.
Big loser
The biggest loss of the day for the hosts was 21-year-old Manisha Maun. Having defeated reigning World Champion and European champion, Manisha was expected to sail through in her 54-kg category but lost to top seed Stoyka Petrova of Bulgaria in a split 4-1 decision.
Another notable loss was that of Pinki Rani in the 51-kg quarterfinal against Pang Chol Mi of North Korea in a unanimous decision. While in the last bout of the day, Seema Poonia was no match to China’s defending champion Yang Xiaoli (+81-kg) and lost in a unanimous verdict.
Seema Poonia (+81kg) was the last Indian to take the ring but she was no match for her opponent, Yang Xiaoli, who was the defending champion as well as 2014 gold winner.
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