Source: The Sangai Express
New Delhi, May 28 2010:
Four-time world champion MC Mary Kom (46kg) and L Sarita Devi (51kg) were assured of at least a bronze medal each after they eased into the semifinals of the Asian Women's Boxing Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Mary Kom defeated Sri Lanka's Anushka 6-3, while Sarita thrashed Ri Hyang Mi of North Korea 10-1 amid protests from the rival camp, which alleged unfair scoring.
However, it was heart-break for Mizoram boxer Venlal Duati (48kg) who lost to China's Luo Yujie.
Duati was locked 1-1 with Yujie af-ter the regulation four rounds and the boxers' sco-res were found to be the same in the count-back as well.
The five-member jud-ges' panel then stepped in and all of them declared Yujie as the better of the two, Indian Boxing Fede-ration Secretary General Col PK Muralidharan Raja, who is in Astana as a technical delegate, told
PTI over phone.
The diminutive Mary Kom, who is aiming to better the silver she won in the pre-vious edition of the event, was the first to step into the ring from the Indian team yesterday.
The 27-year-old took a 2-0 lead in the first round and stretched it to 5-1 after the third round.
Anushka tried to claw back in the final two minutes but the effort proved too little too late.
"It was tougher then the first-round bout but I have the experience to adjust ac-cording to the situation.
I at- tacked more today and caught her on counter-punches as well," Mary Kom said from Astana.
Sarita, who was a gold medallist in the last edition, was even more dominant as she out-punched Mi.
With a 3-1 lead to start with, Sarita dominated the proceedings but there was some drama after the bout as the Korean team lodged a protest against what they called unfair judging.
"The Korean team felt that their boxer was not gi-ven points for genuine pun- ches.
They lodged a pro-test," Raja said.
India has an 11-strong presence at the event where 16 countries are competing.
India had finished third with three gold and a couple of silver medals in the last edition held in Guwahati.