Mary Kom, four other Indians in world boxing finals
Nov 23, 2006 - 4:48:41 AM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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In all, 181 boxers, including 13 from India, are taking part in the championships that is being held in 13 weight categories.
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By Indo Asian News Service,
[RxPG] New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) Defending champion M.C. Mary Kom and four other Indians sailed into the finals of the fourth Women's World Boxing Championship here Wednesday, while three Indians won the bronze medals.
Besides Mary Kom, who will be aiming for a hat-trick of gold medals in the 46kg category, Sarita Devi (52kg), N. Usha (57kg), Jenny. R. Lalranliani (63kg) and Lekha K.C (75kg) have assured themselves of at least silver medals as they booked berths in the finals of the 32-nation competition.
Chotu Loura (50 kg) and Aruna Mishra (66 kg) and Renu (80kg), who all lost in the semi-finals Wednesday, will receive bronze as both semi-finals losers win medals.
In a repeat of the last year's final in Podolsk, Russia, Mary Kom defeated Jong Ok of North Korea in the semi-final at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium Wednesday.
'I knew about her style since I had defeated her last year. Right from the first round I didn't give her any space to free her arms and that's why the difference in our point was huge,' she said referring to 20:8 final score.
Mary Kom, 24, the lone Indian gold winner in the previous championships, will face Romanian Steluta Duta in the final.
Asked about what she has planned for the final, she said: 'Just praying to the god.'
In other bouts, Usha defeated defending champion Mihaela Cijevschi of Russia 15-10, and will now face Yum Kum Ju of North Korea in the title bout. Ju defeated Chinese Bin Wu 23-4 in a one-sided contest.
Usha had an easy escape as at one point in the third round Mihaela levelled her at nine points. But the Indian fought bravely and went all out with a combination of hooks and cuts, ultimately winning 15-10.
Jenny had a tough fight against Katie Dun of Canada. The local girl came back strongly to pocket the bout 25-19. Dun matched Jenny punch for punch but at the end of the second round she trailed the Indian 11-16.
Jenny, sensing urgency to increase her lead, gave no chance to the Canadian in the final round as she won. In the final, the Indian will face Klara Svensonn, who piped defending champion Nemetsova Yulia of Russia 28-13.
In the 75kg semi-final, Lekha charged her Hungarian opponent Anita Ducza right from the start. The Indian won 24-6. In the final, she will face Ukrainian Olga Novikova, who edged past Jinzi Li of China 17-10.
Loura lost to Hasibe Erkoc of Turkey 8-17 and Aruna went down 8-13 to Frenchwoman Aya Cissoko. The Frenchwoman will face Ukrainian Kozlan in the final. Kozlan defeated defending champion Mary Spencer 9-6.
The referee stopped Steluta Duta's semi-final match against Boranbayeva Nazgul of Kazakhstan in the second round after the Romanian had taken a huge lead of 20-0.
Renu too could not match her American opponent Chitiqua Hemmingway and went down quite tamely. It turned out to be a low-scoring bout, with the final scores reading 10-7 in favour of the American.
The Indian failed to counter-attack Hemmingway and in the way lost some crucial points, which ultimately cost her the match. The American launched her powerful hooks and the Indian did well to thwart them but failed to respond in the similar manner.
Hemmingway will face Sinetsakaya Irina of Russia in the final. The Russian edged past Beata Malek of Poland 18-17 in a closely fought contest.
In the semi-finals of the 86kg category, Adriana Hosu of Romania outclassed defending champion Maria Kovacs. The bout had to be stopped by the referee after the second round when the scoreboard flashed 17-2 in favour of the Romanian.
In the final, Hosu will face Surkova Elena of Russia who defeated Semsi Yarali 11-10.
Sarita outclassed Samiha Ali Hasan of Egypt. The bout had to be stopped by the referee as it turned out to be one-sided with the Indian dominating.
In the final, Sarita will face Rudenko of Ukraine whose semi-final contest was also stopped by the referee after she took a huge lead over Jagoda Karge of Poland.
In all, 181 boxers, including 13 from India, are taking part in the championships that is being held in 13 weight categories.
The winner in each category will receive $2,500, the runner-up $1,500 and the third will get $750.
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