Mary Kom, Sakshi march into finals of Asian Boxing Championships

Ace India boxer Mary Kom made her way into the final after defeating Lutsaikhan Altantsetseg in the women’s 51kg semi-final at the 2021 ASBC Asian Boxing Championships in Dubai on Thursday.

The seasoned campaigner Mary Kom made a defensive start and took her time in the first round.

The six-time world champion made the Mongolian opponent work hard and looked in good touch in the next round as she landed timely and powerful punches that put pressure on Altantsetseg. 

Mary Kom, who was out of action and playing only second event since the lockdown after being recovered from dengue, kept her calm and used all her experience to take charge of the game and completed a 4-1 win.

Having won six medals already in the Asian Championships, including five gold, Mary Kom will be up against Kazakhstan’s two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay entered the final beating Sri Lanka Nadeeka Pushpakumari with the referee stopping contest (RSC) after the first round.

Extending the winning momentum, two-time youth world champion Sakshi pulled off a power-packed performance and upstaged the 2016 world champion Dina Zholaman of Kazakhstan 3-2 in the 54kg last-4 clash.

Earlier in the 48kg last-4 match, Monika gave her all and fought hard but fell short against the second seeded Kazakh boxer Alua Balkibekova as she suffered a 5-0 defeat and secured bronze medal for the country.

The International Boxing Association, AIBA has allocated $4,00,000 prize money for the prestigious event which is jointly hosted by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and UAE Boxing Federation.

The gold medallists of men’s and women’s categories will be awarded with $10,000 while both the silver and bronze medal winners will take home $5,000 and 2,500 respectively.

With 15 medals confirmed in the on-going event, Indian contingent achieved their highest medal haul, bettering previous best of 13 from the 2019 edition in Bangkok where they finished third with two gold, four silver and seven bronze medals.

The on-going event has witnessed the presence of 150 boxers from 17 countries including strong boxing nations such as India, Uzbekistan, Philippines and Kazakhstan.

Having secured medal in each category in women section, later tonight, 8 more Indian boxers including Simranjit (60kg), Sakshi (54kg), Jaismine (57kg), Lalbuatsaihi (64kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Saweety (81kg) and Anupama (+81kg) will play their respective semi-finals.

Five men boxers, including defending champion Amit Panghal (52kg), Shiva Thapa (64kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Varinder Singh (60kg) and Sanjeet (91kg) will be seen competing in the last-4 stage on Friday.

When India’s seasoned boxer Shiva Thapa steps into the ring for the men’s 64kg semi-final match of the Asian Boxing Championships on Friday, he will be keen to turn his fifth continental medal into gold. He is already assured of bronze.

Thapa will play Bakhodur Usmonov of Tajikistan in the semi-finals.

“This is my fifth medal in the history of the championships and many people have followed my journey since Amman 2013. I am looking forward to my semi-final against the defending champion,” Thapa was quoted as saying by AIBA, the world boxing governing body.

Thapa, 28, is the first Indian to achieve the feat of winning five medals at the Asian Championship.

Kazakhstan’s Vassiliy Levit is the other male boxer to win five medals in the history of the tournament.

As a teenager, Thapa won his first continental medal, a gold, at the 2013 edition held in Tashkent. In the 2015 Asian tournament in Bangkok, he won bronze, while two years later in Tashkent he settled for silver. In the 2019 edition held in Bangkok, he got bronze.