Mary Kom loses in quarters, Olympic hope still alive

Qinhuangdao (China): It was a heartbreak for the Indians at the World Boxing Championships, which is also serving as an event for Olympic qualification, as India’s favourite and five-time world champion MC Mary Kom was knocked out of the event after losing to Nicola Adams (11:13) in the quarterfinals of the 51 kg category here on Wednesday.

However, there is still a hope for Mary Kom to make it to the London Olympics as her fate now rests on the outcome of the results of other boxers. The Indian will make the cut if her conqueror Adams wins her semi-final bout against Russian Elena Savelyeva on Thursday.


This is the first time that Mary Kom will return without a medal from the championships since the event was introduced in 2001.


Women's boxing will make its Olympic debut in three weight categories in London -- 51kg, 60kg and 75kg. Asia has two slots in the 51kg division and one of them has already been taken by Asian Games gold-medallist Ren Cancan of China.


Mary and North Korea's Hye Kim have ended up on the losing side in the quarterfinals and their respective opponents -- Adams of England and Elena Savelyeva of Russia -- will be facing off in the semis now. The winner of the bout will decide which among Mary Kom or Kim goes through to the Olympics.

Mary Kom conceded a point's lead each in the first and third round, which ultimately proved decisive in the bout.

There was some good news for India in the non-Olympic categories as Kavita assured herself of a medal by advancing to the +81kg division semi-finals. She beat Turkey's Semsi Yarali 15-14 to make the medal round.

But there was disappointment elsewhere as Pinki Jangra (48kg) went down to world number two Svetlana Gnevanova of Russia 11-13.

In the 81kg division, former world champion RL Jenny lost 11-18 to Hungary's Timea Nagy.

In the 64kg category, Meena Rani lost to American Mikaela Mayer 10-27.