Mary Kom Enters World Championships Semi-Final, Assured of a Medal
Mary Kom is now just two wins away from winning her sixth gold at the Women’s World Championships.
MC Mary Kom on Tuesday, 20 November, punched her way into the semi-finals of the Women’s World Boxing Championships after defeating Wu Yu of China 5-0. She is now assured of her seventh medal at the World Championships, making her the most successful boxer in the marquee tournament.
India’s biggest medal hope at this year’s event, the Olympic bronze-medallist will be seeking her first AIBA title since 2010. The 35-year-old Manipuri, a mother of three, won a silver in the first edition and then went on to win five gold in successive World Championships from 2002 to 2010.
"But once I got her game I thought out what to do and I had not much of a problem after that," the diminutive star added.
The Olympic bronze-medallist next faces North Korea's Kim Hyang Mi in the semi-final on Thursday. The Indian had beaten her in the Asian Championships last year.
In a bout which saw little action, Mary Kom was the better boxer with clean punches. More importantly, the local favourite rarely allowed Wu to get a clean shot at her. The five judges ruled in her favour with the elaborate scoreline reading 30-27, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28, 30-27.
Currently tied with Katie Taylor of Ireland on five world titles, Mary is now just two wins away from a clinching a record sixth gold.
Mary’s 2018 So Far
In her first major tournament since taking a two-year sabbatical, Mary Kom won a historic gold at this year’s Commonwealth Games. Competing in her debut CWG, also perhaps her last, the 35-year-old became the first Indian woman to bag a yellow metal in the sport at the Games.
This was just five months after claiming a gold at the Asian Championships and following it up with another one at the India Open in January. Before heading to Gold Coast, she had won a silver medal at the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria.
With an eye of the World Championships, Mary had opted out of the Asian Games. She was carrying a few niggles, and the Games didn’t have a 48kg category – so in order to focus on another world title, the Asian Games gold-medallist decided to give Indonesia a miss.
But in September, she delivered another world-class performance, bagging a gold at the Silesian Open Tournament in Poland. This, after losing 2kgs in just 4 hours!
(With inputs from PTI)
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