Mary Kom, 2 others enter semis of Spanish tournament; assured of medals | Boxing News – Times of India


NEW DELHI: Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom (51kg) was assured of a medal in her first competitive outing since qualifying for the Olympics last year when she entered the semifinal of the Boxam International Tournament in Castellon, Spain on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old Mary Kom, who had not competed since her Tokyo qualification last year in Jordan, defeated Italian Giordana Sorrentino with a split verdict in the quarterfinal stage of the event.
Also advancing to the medal rounds were Olympic-bound Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and debutant Jasmine (57kg), competing in her maiden international tournament.
Jasmine defeated American Selma Medina in her quarterfinal fight, while Simranjit prevailed over Spaniard Eugenia Albons. Both the Indians notched up unanimous victories.
However, Asian bronze-winner Manisha Moun (57kg) bowed out of the event after going down to Italian Irma Testa in the quarterfinals.
Next up for Mary Kom is American Virginia Fuchs as she builds up to her second Olympic appearance in Tokyo later this year.
It was a watchful start by the experienced Manipuri as she took her time to get a measure of her aggressive opponent.
Both the boxers preferred to counter-attack in the opening round, adopting a cautious approach for most part.
The proceedings picked up pace in the second round but in the final three minutes, it was Mary Kom who launched into attacks, dropping her guard completely and using her right hooks to good effect.
Earlier, in the men’s draw, Olympic-bound Manish Kaushik (63kg) advanced to the quarterfinals with a facile opening win.
The world championship bronze-medallist defeated Spaniard Ammari Raddouane 5-0 on Tuesday night to make the last eight, where he will be up against Kazakhstan’s Sufiullin Zakir — a two-time Asian silver-winner.
Kaushik, also a Commonwealth Games silver-medallist, is returning to the ring a year after qualifying for the Olympics in the Asian Qualifiers in Jordan. He was laid low by a knee injury.
A 14-member Indian contingent (eight men and six women), including nine Olympic qualified and other top boxers, is taking part at the 35th edition of the tournament.
All the eight men are in quarterfinals and will compete on Thursday.
Boxers from 17 countries, including Russia, USA, Italy, Kazakhstan and Spain, are participating in the event.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Releated

Swiss Open: PV Sindhu Through To Round Of 16 After Beating Yigit Neslihan 21-16, 21-19 | Badminton News

Top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth entered the Round of 16 at the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament after their respective wins in the women’s and men’s singles competitions on Wednesday. While world champion Sindhu beat Yigit Neslihan of Turkey 21-16 21-19 in her first round match that lasted 42 minutes, Srikanth […]

Swiss Open: Sindhu, Srikanth advance; Lakshya, Prannoy lose | Badminton News – Times of India

Indian shuttlers had a good day at the Swiss Open BWF Super-300 tournament in Basel on Wednesday. PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram, Sourabh Verma and the men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy won their first round matches. However, HS Prannoy lost […]

%d bloggers like this: