Asian boxing championship: Mary Kom, Shiksha and Priyanka swiftly enters into semifinals; medal assured

Hanoi, November 5: Olympic bronze-medalist and five-time world champion M C Mary Kom, debutant Shiksha and Priyanka Chaudhary on Saturday swiftly entered into the semifinals of the Asian women's Boxing Championships being held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

 

The 34-year-old, Mary Kom defeated Chinese Taipei's Meng-Chieh Pin in a split verdict in the quarter-finals to make the last four stage of the light flyweight 48kg category. Mary Kom will next face Japan's Tsubasa Komura in the semi-finals bout. However, Mary Kom missed Olympic qualification last year but assures medal in this tournament. Mary Kom registered a commanding win over local favourite Diem Thi Trinh Kieu in the opening round of the light flyweight 48 Kg category.

On the other side, a debutant Shiksha defeated Uzbekistan's Ferangiz Khoshimova in the quarter-final. Keeping an attacking approach from the first ring of the bell Shiksha hardly gave her opponent any breathing space. The unrelenting aggression eventually fetched Shiksha a unanimous verdict in her favour from the judges. Shiksha will next face Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu-Ting in the semi-finals. Shiksha won her opening bout against Mongolia's Oyun-Erdene Nergui in the 54kg category to advance to the last eight.

Meanwhile, Priyanka too played a dominant game in her clash against Sri Lanka's Dulanjani Lankapurayalage and had no trouble earning a 5-0 victory. Unfortunately, world championships silver-medalist Saweety Boora bowed out after losing 0-5 against Olympic bronze-medalist Li Qian in the 75kg category.

A total of 107 boxers from 20 countries are competing in the continental meet, where India is placed third on the all-time medals' list with 19 gold, 21 silver, and 20 bronze medals. Mary Kom is also named as an ambassador of the AIBA Women's Youth World Championships to be held in Guwahati from the 19th of this month.