Mary Kom falls short in semis as Simranjit Kaur reaches final

Indian boxers Mary Kom and Pooja Rani bowed out of the Asian boxing Olympic 2020 qualifiers while Simranjit Kaur pulled off a stunning comeback in her bout to reach the final on Tuesday.

Mary Kom, who secured a Tokyo 2020 Olympics quota on Monday, lost to the People's Republic of China’s Chang Yuan by a 4-1 split decision in the women’s flyweight (48-51kg) semi-finals.

In the fight, the six-time world champion was on the defence, trying to evade punches of the towering Chinese boxer for the most part of the first round but couldn’t land clean punches of her own.

Mary Kom tried to go on the attack in the second round, attempting a combo early on but Chang Yuan remained out of reach. Mary Kom was only able to connect a jab and a hook while pressing forward as the Chinese boxer kept roaming the court.

In a cagey contest, the 37-year-old Indian boxer’s overreliance on speed and reflexes fell short as Chang Yuan, 15 years younger than her counterpart, ended the round with a robust uppercut.

Mary Kom went all-in with her guard down in the final round but with the job almost done, Chang Yuan kept hovering at the ropes for the large part of it. Racing against time, Mary Kom managed to land some light hooks, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

“I think I fought well but when I found out about the points at the end of each round, I was upset,” Mary Kom said. “I don’t think there was that much of a difference in the fight. I didn’t even feel a proper punch to my face. I’m not disappointed, next time I’ll come back and do better.”

Simrajit Kaur reaches final

Simranjit Kaur had an uphill task against a towering Shih-Yi Wu of Chinese Taipei and she struggled in the first round as well. Wu’s jabs were clean and her shorter Indian opponent found it difficult to deal with for most of the three minutes.

Though Simranjit Kaur lost the first round 1-4 by a split decision, her moment of encouragement from it was a left hook-right cross combo that had taken third-seeded Wu by surprise.

Simranjit Kaur rode on it to take the second round by a close 3-2 split decision after she saw off an early exchange of hooks and landed some significant blows of her own.

The third round started with Simranjit Kaur getting a clean body shot to her name amidst a relentless flurry of punches thrown by both the boxers. Simranjit Kaur further got the judges’ attention with a slick right-left-right combo after escaping Wu's long jab, which turned the tide her way.

“After the first round, my coaches told me to wake up. They motivated me for a few rounds after that and I knew I had to win at any cost. I am excited about fighting in the final. I had to express myself in the final. Even though I’ve qualified for the Olympics, I want to win the final,” Simranjit Kaur told the Olympic Channel.

Simarnjit Kaur won the bout by a 4-1 split decision in the end and will be facing South Korea’s Yeonji Oh in the Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers final on Wednesday.

Pooja Rani gets outclassed by top seed

Pooja Rani wasn’t the favourite coming up against top seed Qian Li of China, but very few expected the Indian boxer to be outplayed so comprehensively.

Eyeing to stay out of a tall Qian Li’s reach, Pooja Rani saw most of her jabs falling short of the target while the Chinese pugilist was content with connecting a couple of clean jabs early on. Pooja Rani lost the first round by a unanimous decision.

Li got faster in the second round. Helped by her longer reach, she got her points early this time as well, with an impactful backhand-right cross combination. Though Pooja Rani showed more heart in the second round, a tactically superior Li was timing her punches to perfection.

After taking the second round 5-0 as well, Li was brimming with confidence. A helpless Pooja Rani saw Li punching in threes and fours now before the Chinese boxer finished the bout with a hard right jab at the Indian.