Defending champion Pooja Rani (75kg) was the only Indian woman boxer to win gold at the Asian Championships in Dubai on Sunday, while three others, including six-time world champion MC Mary Kom (51kg), finished with silver medals (May 30). Pooja (75 kg), who was participating in her maiden battle of the competition after receiving a bye and a walkover earlier, crushed Uzbekistan’s Mavluda Movlonova with a clinical performance.
She also received $10,000 for her outstanding one-bout performance, in which Movlonova was just out of sorts, unable to keep up with the Indian’s enthusiasm. Six-time world champion Mary Kom (51kg) and competition debutants Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) and Anupama (81+kg) finished second.
All three were defeated in close fights and received USD 5,000 in prize money as well as silver medals. The Olympic hopeful Mary Kom was defeated by Kazakhstan’s Nazim Kyzaibay in a split decision of 2-3.
It was the Manipuri superstar’s eighth medal in the competition, with the first being a gold medal in the 2003 edition. Her tournament record presently stands at five gold medals and two silver medals.
Lalbuatsaihi also fell 2-3, but not before giving her Kazakh opponent Milana Safronova a battle to remember. Lalbuatsaihi was a late substitute for the experienced Pwilao Basumatary, whose passport had expired. The Mizo fighter fatigued her opponent with her counter-attacks, but she lost momentum in the last round and finished second.
Anupama was the final fighter to enter the ring, against Kazakhstan’s former world champion Lazzat Kungeibayeva. She held her own in a battle characterized by heavy holding and clinching, but Kungeibayeva connected better for a 3-2 victory.
Earlier, playing against an opponent 11 years her junior, Mary Kom, 38, had an excellent start and easily won the first round by relying on her fast counter-attacks.
The tempo quickened in the second round, as both boxers displayed aggressive purpose. At this moment, the Kazakh drew level, her punches connecting wonderfully. Mary Kom came back in the last three minutes, but it wasn’t enough to earn her a victory from the judges.
Kyzaibay has won two world championships and six national titles. Each gold medalist received $10,000 in prize money.
Amit Panghal (52kg), Shiva Thapa (64kg), and Sanjeet (91kg) will compete in the men’s finals on Monday. Panghal will compete against Uzbekistan’s defending Olympic and world champion Shakhobidin Zoirov. It will be a rematch of the 2019 world championship final, in which India was defeated and had to settle for silver.
Thapa will compete against Mongolia’s Baatarsukh Chinzorig, a silver medalist in the Asian Games. Sanjeet will compete against Kazakh veteran Vassiliy Levit, who is aiming for his fourth gold medal in the continental showcase.
After semifinal defeats, eight other Indians — the Olympic-bound quartet of Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), and Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), as well as Jasmine (57kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (64kg), Monika (48kg), Saweety (81kg), and Varinder Singh (60kg) – won bronze medals.
They also received $2,500 in prize money for finishing third.
