Indian legend Mary Kom storms into Asian Boxing Championships final
Three other women, including Pooja Rani, also made it to the final. Tokyo-bound boxers Simranjit Kaur and Lovlina Borgohain, however, settled for bronze.
Tokyo-bound Indian boxing legend MC Mary Kom made the finals of the Asian Boxing Championships 2021 after winning her opening round in Dubai on Thursday.
In what is a depleted field, only 47 women boxers are competing in the Asian meet. As a result, several Indian boxers were drawn directly for the semi-finals.
In the 51kg semis, top seed and five-time Asian champion Mary Kom defeated Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg of Mongolia by a 4-1 split decision to assure herself of at least a silver medal.
India are set to win an unprecedented 15 medals at the Asian Boxing Championships, bettering the previous tally of 13 from the 2019 edition.
For Mary Kom, it would be her sixth medal at the Asian meet.
In her first competition since Boxam in March, Mary Kom was happy to fight on the backfoot and adopt a southpaw stance in the opening round against Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg.
The Indian chose her moments to get punches in and connected a few as Altantsetseg fought aggressively, hitting the Indian legend flush in the face on a few occasions.
However, that was as good as it got for the Mongolian after Mary Kom upped the tempo in the second round and landed some powerful cuts and hooks to the face.
Both boxers threw caution to the wind in the final round and traded blows but Mary Kom’s experience meant that she came out better in the exchanges to win the bout.
Mary Kom, a six-time world champion, will be up against Kazakhstan’s two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay in the final.
Two other Tokyo-bound Indian women boxers didn’t fare as well.
Simranjit Kaur lost 5-0 to Rimma Volossenko of Kazakhstan in the 60kg semi-final while Lovlina Borgohain lost 3-2 to Uzbekistan's Navbakhor Khamidova in the 69kg. Both, however, will get a bronze medal for their effort.
Pooja Rani, meanwhile, was awarded a walkover and will face Mavluda Movlonova of Uzbekistan in the 75kg final.
In other semi-final results, Kuwait's Noura Almutairi threw in the towel and the match was declared abandoned, with India’s Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) declared the winner. Anupama (81+kg) won 4-1 against Mokhira Abdullaeva of Uzbekistan and will go on to meet Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan in the final.
Sakshi Chaudhary (54kg) lost 3-2 to top seed Dina Zholaman of Kazakhstan following a review of the original result that favoured the Indian.
Monika (48kg) lost to second seed Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan 5-0, Jaismine (57kg) also lost by unanimous decision against Vladislava Kukhta of Kazakhstan while Saweety Boora (81kg) lost 5-0 against Fariza Sholtay of Kazakhstan.
The four losing semi-finalists, however, secured a bronze medal each.
Five men boxers, including defending champion Amit Panghal (52kg), Shiva Thapa (64kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Varinder Singh (60kg) and Sanjeet (91kg) will be seen competing in the semi-finals on Friday.
India sent a 19-member team, including seven Tokyo Olympics-bound Indian boxers, to the Asian Boxing Championships where 150 boxers from 17 countries are participating.