Nikhat, Arundhati in semi of Strandja Boxing tournament
World Champion Nikhat Zareen and Arundhati Choudhary recorded easy wins and moved to the semifinals of the 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria
Five-time World Champion M.C. Mary Kom on Tuesday cruised into the 48-kg finals of the Asian Boxing Championships after beating Japans Tsubasa Komura 5-0 to stay on course for her fifth gold medal in the continental event.
The Manipuri pugilist, who is making her comeback to the squared ring after more than a year, used her tactical nous to the optimum. She was on top right from the word go and quickly figured out how to penetrate the Japanese girl’s defence.
Komura maintained a safe distance throughout the opening round, perhaps hoping to put pressure in the next rounds. But Mary still found a way to land her punches and seized the initiative.
Advertisement
Mary upped the ante in the second round and landed a barrage of punches to catch her opponent off-guard. With the balance now clearly tilted in favour of her, she adopted the cross-armed guard and avoided anything that was thrown at her to be announced as the well-deserved winner.
The Manipur-born boxing great will next take on the winner of the bout between Jargalan Ochirbat of Mongolia and Kim Hyang Mi of North Korea in the light-flyweight (45-48kg) category final.
Advertisement
