Women lead charge in Boxing, 3 bronze assured
A boisterous group of fans sat in one corner of the Seonhak Gymnasium and cheered on each and every punch the Indian women boxers threw at their opponents. They have been coming here regularly since the boxing competition started five days back and ensured that Indian athletes don’t feel the lack of support in a foreign country.
The hall reverberated with the chants of Mary (Kom) and (laishram Sarita) Devi as the two boxers won their bouts and enter the semifinals of the 17th Asian Games.
Mary beat China’s Hijuan Si 3-0 in the women’s fly-weight (48-51) category while Sarita beat Erdene Oyungerel of Mongolia (3-0) in women’s light weight (57-60) category. later in the day, another boxer Pooja Rani entered the semifinals after defeating Dara Flora Shen of Chinese Taipei to ensure at least three bronze medals for India.
In return, the fans got the autographs and an opportunity to get photos clicked with their sporting idols. The most popular among them, for obvious reasons, was Mary. She was almost mobbed by the over-enthusiastic fans but Mary didn’t seem to mind it, except that she was too tired to oblige each and every admirer and had to be rescued by the national team coach Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu. Mary needed to rest for her semifinal bout two days later.
Mary, who failed to qualify for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, was ousted by China’s Ran Cancan in the last Asian Games in Guangzhou. Here, she defeated a Chinese to progress into the medal round but refused to term it a revenge. “It’s a sport and everyone wants to win. You don’t play for revenge,” Mary said.
Talking about her bout against the Chinese, Mary said it was only a ‘little bit difficult’ in comparison to her first round bout against Korea’s Yeji Kim. “She was aggressive throughout but I managed to win (laughs),” she said. In the men’s section, Mandeep Jangra, the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medallist, won his welterweight (69kg) round of 16 match against China’s Wei liu 2-1 by a split decision to set up a quarter-final date with Thailand’s Apichet Saensit Monday.
Gaurav Bidhuri prevailed over Nepal’s Prem Chaudhary 3-0 by a unanimous judges’ decision in the flyweight (52kg) round of 16 contest. He will face Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin Zoirov in the last eight match Monday.