Thaindian News

Guangzhou, Nov 22 (IANS) India’s four-time world champion Mary Kom and Kavita Goyat moved into the semifinals of the women’s boxing competitions of the Asian Games here Monday.

Mary Kom crushed Ping Meng Chieh of Chinese Taipei 16-2 in the 48-51 kg while Kavita (69-75kg) staved off a strong chalenge from Kazahkhstan’s Marina Volnova to win 8-7 in the quartefinals at the Foshan Gymnasium.

Another Indian, Preeti Beniwal (57-60kg), however, lost to Thailand’s Tassamalee Thingjan 0-3.

Mary Kom, who got a bye in the first round, will next face China’s Ren Cancan who defeated Nepal’s Sanju Lama 10-0, for a place in the final.

The Manipur mother of twins is a strong contender for the gold and proved her supremacy with a power-packed performance against Ping.

The nimble-footed Mary Kom opened up a 3-0 lead in the first round and then rained punches in the second to extend her lead to 8-0. Keeping her guard lower, Mary Kom invited Ping to attack, but anticipated her opponent’s move brilliantly. Having opened up Ping, Mary Kom then went all out attacking to score points.

The fight was almost over for Ping who managed two points in the third round against Mary Kom’s three.

The Indian was in no mood to give her opponent any freebies and added five more points to her tally to warm up for the semi-finals.

In another quarterfinals bout (69-75kg), Kavita scraped past Marina in a close contest.

The two measured each other in the first two rounds to be tied 2-2. They rained punches in the third round and were again locked 5-5. Kavita then showed tactical acumen and went ahead in the fourth round before Marina fought back, but the Indian sneaked through into the semifinals in the end.

Kavita will now take on China’s Li Jinzi in the semis.