Asian Boxing: Marykom among six Indians in finals

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: Indian Women boxers created history as six of them entered the finals of 6th Asian women Boxing Championships at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Pinky Jangra (48 kgs), MC Marykom (51 kgs), Sonia Lather (54 kgs), Sarita Devi (60 kgs), Monica Saun (64 kgs), Pooja Rani (75 Kgs) won their semi-final bouts on Saturday.

The bout of the day was in the 60 kg category between Sarita Devi and Cheng Dong of China, who is the current Asian Games Gold Medalist, 2009 World Championship silver medalist and 2008 World Championship Gold Medalist in 60 kg. Sarita Devi won the bout comprehensively by a score of 26:15 points. She will now meet Chorieva Mavzuna of Tajkistan in the finals on March 25.

In the 48 kg, Pinky Jangra defeated Yujie Luo of China on points 15:13. Pinki made a spirited fight-back as she was down 1:3 at the end of Round 1, and she was down by a bigger margin of 3:8 by the end of Round 2 but came back strongly in Round 3 to equalise at 11:11 and went on to finish strongly by winning 15:13. She will now meet Bolortuul Tumurhuyag of Mongolia in the finals.

In the 51 kg category, Marykom defeated Alice Kate Aparri of Phillipines by a score of 21:6. At the end of Round 1, Marykom was leading on points 2:1, which became 7:3 by end of Round 2 and 12:5 by the end of Round 3 and finished the Round 4 with a score of 21:6. She now meets Ren Cancan of China in the finals.

In the 54 kg, Sonia Lather who was trailing by 4:5 at the end of Round 1 took the lead over Gulzhan akimova of Kazakhstan in Round 2 on points 10:8 and increased it to 17:11 by Round 3 and finished Round 4 with 22:14 points. She will now meet Ke Jia Liu of China in the finals.

In the 69 Kg, Monica Saun defeated Dapana Durage Shiromali of Sri Lanka on points 23:9. She will now play against Dong Mei Wang of China in the finals.

In the 75 kg, Pooja Rani defeated Srim Paek of Peoples Republic of Korea on points 21:8. She will now play against Jinzi Li of China in the finals.

In the 81 kg, Bhagyabati Kachari lost to Meiqing Yuan of China by Retirement in the 3rd Round.

In the 85 kg, Kavita Chahal lost to Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan on points 13:22.

India have 6 boxers in the finals while China have 7 boxers in the finals. India’s boxers in all 3 Olympic weight categories ie. 51, 60 & 75 kgs have entered the finals while China have in 2 weight categories ie. 51 & 75 kgs.