Asian Games 2014: Mary Kom wins gold in flyweight category

Mary Kom

Star boxer MC Mary Kom defeated Shekerbekova Zhaina of Kazakhstan in the women’s flyweight final (48-51 kg) to give India’s seventh gold medal at the Seonhak Gymnasium on Wednesday. The 31-year-old Indian pugilist was pushed on the backfoot despite striving hard as two of the three judges rules in favour of Zhaina in the first round.

The 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist and five-time World Champion turned things around in the second round, putting up a robust performance, forcing two of three judges to rule that round in her favour.

The Manipuri lass - wearing the red attire – went for broke in the third round as all the judges rules in her favour. The fourth and final round saw Mary dominate and bag the gold.

She had prevailed over Vietnam’s Le Thi Bang in the semifinals. Mary had earlier put it across China’s Si Haijuan in the quarterfinals. She had launched her Asian Games campaign with a triumph over Korea’s Kim Yeji.

India have two men boxers in the fray - Vikas Krishan (who replaced iconic boxer Vijender Singh in this weight category after the latter suffered a hand injury at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games) in the middle weight category and Satish Kumar in the super heavyweight category (+91 kg).

Indian boxers will be looking to put on a stellar performance after capping a splendid effort at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where they won five medals including four silver medals and a bronze – they created history as for the first time four Indians reached the final of the Commonwealth Games.