Mary Kom assured of historic 8th World Championships' medal

Mary Kom assured of historic 8th World Championships' medal

Mary Kom assured of historic 8th World Championships' medal

MC Mary Kom walks into the boxing arena to take on 2016 Olympic Bronze medalist, Valencia Victoria Ingrit Lorena from Colombia in the quarterfinals of the ongoing World Women's Boxing Championships in Russia on October 10.  Six-time champion Mary Kom assured herself an unprecedented eighth medal at World Championship after defeating Valencia with a unanimous 5:0 verdict in her last-eight match advancing to the semifinals. (Photo:  Boxing Federation of India@BFI_official/Twitter)

 

 
 

Ulan-Ude (Russia), October 10 (IANS): Six-time champion MC Mary Kom on Thursday assured herself an unprecedented eighth medal at the World Women's Boxing Championships after advancing to the semifinals of the ongoing event in Russia. She defeated Ingrit Valencia Victor of Colombia with a unanimous 5:0 verdict in her last-eight match.



Mary Kom, chasing her first world medal in the 51kg division, used all her experience to great advantage and started off slowly against the Rio Olympic bronze medallist. The third-seed picked up pace in the remaining two rounds and came out with accurate and timely blows to assure India of its first medal in the ongoing championships.



The judges' points at the end stood 29-28, 30-27, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 in Mary Kom's favour.



The ace Indian pugilist has now assured herself of at least a bronze medal, her eighth in all the editions of the world championships.



Earlier in the tournament, the Manipuri boxer had triumphed 5-0 against Thailand's Jutamas Jitpong in the last-16 stage after getting a bye in the opening round.



She will now face second seed Busenaz Cakiroglu of Turkey on Saturday in the semifinals.



The 36-year-old is now the only boxer, both female and male, to win eight medals in world championships. Besides, her stellar career is also studded with an Olympic bronze medal (2012), five Asian titles, gold medals at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.