Asian Boxing Championship 2021: Pooja Rani bags gold as Mary Kom and Lalbuatsaihi settle for silver

Asian Boxing Championship 2021: Pooja Rani bags gold as Mary Kom and Lalbuatsaihi settle for silver

Pooja Rani (in blue corner)

Indian women signed off on yet another dominating performance in the Asian Boxing Championship with one gold and three medals. Pooja Rani successfully defended her title as she outpunched in-form Mavluda Movlonova to hand India its first gold at the the tournament.

The Olympics-bound pugilist was up against a strong Uzbekistan boxer, who came into the final beating London Olympics medallist Marina Volnova in the semi-final. Pooja’s relentless attack gave the Uzbek no chance to plot a comeback into the game as she completed a comprehensive 5-0 victory. The gold was the Indian boxer’s fourth in the championship to go with her gold in 2019, silver in 2012 and a bronze in 2015.

Mary Kom, Lalbuatsaihi bag silver

Mary Kom
Mary Kom

Indian boxing ace and six-time world champion MC Mary Kom bagged a silver medal in the 51 kg category of the Asian Boxing Championships. After making her way to the final of the event, she fell to Nazym Kyrzaibay of Kazakhstan in a tense final that saw a split verdict. The judges’ verdict was 2-3 against Mary Kom. The silver was the 38-year-old’s seventh medal in the history of the championships. Her first medal came way back in the year 2003.

FS Video

Also Read: Canelo Alvarez beats Billy Joe Saunders after corner stoppage at the end of round 8!

The 27-year-old Nazym proved to be a stiff test for Mary Kom but it was the Indian who made an excellent start. She won the opening round with ease thanks to her stupendously sharp counterattacks. In the second round, the bout proved to be more evenly matched and Nazym came roaring back. In the end, Mary had to come from behind and tried to fight back but the judges ruled in favour of Nazym in a split verdict in the end.

Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) also gave her all in another close-fought gold medal but couldn’t manage to get past Milana Safronova of Kazakhstan and suffered a 2-3 defeat to win silver medal in her maiden outing at the Championships.

Also Read: Logan Paul vs Floyd Mayweather: Logan Paul says Floyd’s whole life would mean nothing if he beats him