Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom (48kg) assured herself of a medal on her debut at the Commonwealth Games by advancing to the semifinals in Gold Coast, Australia on Sunday.
The 35-year-old Olympic bronze-medallist comfortably sailed past Scotland’s Megan Gordon to make the last-four stage with a unanimous 5-0 win. The ease of the win was underlined by the margin of points given by the five judges.
Her win assured the Indian boxing contingent of its first CWG medal.
Mary Kom, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, will face Sri Lanka’s Anusha Dilrukshi in the semifinal on April 11.
The Indian veteran is the favourite to claim the gold medal in her weight category, which would be her third in the last five months. She had won gold medals at the Asian Championships, the India Open before settling for a silver at the Strandja Memorial boxing tournament in Bulgaria.
It was also a win for Vikas Krishan in the 75 kg category as he moved into the quarter-final with a hard-fought win over crowd-favourite Campbell Somerville. It was a 5-0 scoreline ultimately but all five judges gave the third round to the Aussie boxer, as Krishan struggled towards the end of the bout.
The Indian contingent also tasted defeat for the first time at the Games on Sunday as Lovlina Borgohain went down fighting in her quarter-final bout in the 69 kg category. And what a close defeat at that. The Indian lost to the fancied Sandy Ryan but not without a fight - it was eventually a split decision of 3-2 in the England boxer’s favour.
