Six-time World Champion and Indian boxing legend Mary Kom marked her comeback to the ring with a bang as she defeated Italy’s Giordana Sorrentino with a split verdict in the quarterfinal stage of the event. With this win, the 38-year-old has assured a medal and has also progressed to the semifinals in the Boxam International Boxing tournament.
This is the first competitive event that Mary Kom has been a part of since Asiam Olympics Qualifiers where she booked her ticket for the Tokyo Olympics last year in Jordan. She had a rough phase in between with dengue and also with the mass lockdown that India and the world have gone through in the majority of the months last year.
The Manipuri boxer will now face America’s Virginia Fuchs in the semifinals as she prepares for her second appearance at the Summer Games in Tokyo later this year.
It was a cautious start from Mary Kom while her opponent was aggressive from the get-go. But the six-time World Champion held her nerve and kept soaking in those punches as she waited for the right moment. The second half was far more action packed but it was nothing in comparison to the third round where Mary Kom went gung ho and threw multiple punches at her opponent after completely dropping her defence. This was where the match was decided.
Earlier on the day, it was another comeback story for Indian boxing as world championship bronze-medallist Manish Kaushik who was drawn in the preliminary round has defeated his Spanish opponent Ammari Raddouane 5-0 on Tuesday night and has progressed to the last eight. It was an impressive comeback to the ring for Kaushik as he will look to go deep into the tournament.
The 26-year-old boxer from Devsar, Haryana was returning to the ring after a year. He last featured at the Asian Olympics Qualifiers where he secured his place in the Tokyo Olympics but unfortunately, later he was sidelined due to a knee injury. Kaushik is now back in action and has started very strongly which is a good sign for the Indian boxing fans. In the quarterfinals, he will face Kazakhstan’s Sufiullin Zakir, a two-time Asian silver winner. So it will be a very exciting matchup against two strong boxers looking to prove a point.
