Mary Kom, the world champion, wins her seventh medal at Asian Championships!
Ace boxer Mary Kom won a silver medal in the Asian Boxing Championships held in Dubai last month.
In India, Boxing is synonymous with Mary Kom. The mere mention of the sport brings her name to our minds and the honors she has brought to the country for nearly two decades. She has won several medals and accolades, and the Asian championships have been her winning ground ever since she started competing in 2003. The 38-year-old boxer has dominated the ring and has secured a total of five gold medals to her name to date. Recently, she participated in the Asian Boxing Championships 2021.
She had defeated Mongolia’s Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg by 4–1 in the semifinals to enter the last round of the event. Eyeing for the sixth gold in her tally, Kom went up against Kazakhstan’s Nazym Kyzaibay in the women flyweight division (51kg). However, she lost the bout by a 2–3 verdict and had to settle for a silver medal. This is her seventh medal in the Asian tournament, with five golds and two silvers.
In the first round, Kom played defensively by taking a southpaw stance and maintaining a distance against her opponent. Three out of the five judges ruled in her favor here. However, in the second round Kyzaibay put forth her quick jabs and right hand to the body, and only two judges gave Kom full points. In the third round, she started off with the offensive, but Kyzaibay fended her off with her well-constructed punches, winning the hearts of the judges and the audience. Although Mary Kom didn’t win the match, her silver medal was enough for her fans in India to applaud her for the performance.
The six-time world champion already has a spot sealed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She qualified in the 51kg category in the Asian Olympic qualifying event held in Amman, Jordan in March last year. She had also announced earlier that this would be her last appearance in the Olympics events. “Tokyo will be my last Olympics. Age matters here. I am 38 now, going on 39. Four (three) more years is a long time,” Mary told the Olympic Channel. “Pretty sure, I won’t be allowed to even if I am willing to carry on till Paris 2024,” she added.
The boxing icon has been an inspiration to many young women in the country. Following her footsteps, they have pursued boxing as a career, which was heavily male-dominated earlier. This may b
e her last Olympics, but she will be an idol to them forever. We also hope she continues to prosper in other events as long as she can and takes Indian boxing to new heights.
The Indian women’s boxing team only won one gold medal in the tournament, this time bagged by Pooja Rani in the middleweight division (75kg). Other than Mary Kom, Lal Buat Saihi and Anupama Kundu won silver medals. Also, they won five bronze medals in total.
Seven Indian women boxers made history recently as they won seven gold medals in the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. Read the blog here. You can check out our other blogs on the website. Join the Fuzia community today to connect with some like-minded individuals. Sign up here.
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Originally published at https://www.fuzia.com.