AIBA C'ship: Four out of eight Indians progress to semi-finals

Out of eight Indian boxers, only four could make it to semi-finals of the ongoing 10th International Boxing Association (AIBA) Women's World Boxing Championship while the remaining four missed their semi-finals berth on Tuesday here at the KD Jhadav Hall.

Five-time World Champion Mary Kom assured the country its first medal in the 48 kg category as she thrashed her Chinese counterpart Wu Yu 5:0 in a unanimous verdict to cement her spot.

Reflecting on her strategy, the 35-year-old said, "Chinese always come up with new faces. I won't say it was very easy or very tough. I planned my strategy well and fought accordingly."

Another pugilist, Lovlina Borgohan trounced Kaye Frances Scott of Australia 5:00 in Welter class (69 kg).

When asked about master-blaster cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's proposal to make sports a compulsory subject in schools, Lovlina said, "Sports is a great thing. Schools and colleges should have sports studies. It also helps young aspirants who can't pay for training."

Apart from Mary and Lovlina, Simranjeet Kaur in the 64 kg category defeated Amy Sara Broadhurst from Ireland with 3:1. While talking about her bout, the Ludhiana girl stated, "I only want gold and dedicate it to my father."

Considering her bout a brain game, she said, "I really wanted to defeat her. Playing against her like a fighter didn't help. That's why I played with the brain."

Following a controversial bout on Monday, Sonia in 57 kg category too entered the semi-finals after defeating Colombia's Yeni Castenada in a 4:1 verdict in her favour.

Meanwhile, Manisha Moun, Bhagyabati Kachari, Pinki Rani Jangra, and Seema Pooina made their exits at the prestigious tournament.

Manisha missed the semi-final berth after suffering a 1:4 defeat by the Bulgarian boxer Stoyka Petrova in the quarters clash of women's 54kg boxing category. Reflecting on her bout she said, " I thought I did my best, but her (Petrova's) experience carried the day. I was not as good in the first but did well in the last two rounds. It was my first outing and the experience I gained will help me in the future."

In another bout, Pinki lost 0:5 to North Korean's Mi Choi Pang, while Seema too faced defeat 0:5 at the hands of Yang Xiaoli from China.

Bhagyabati faced a hard day as she lost 2:3 to Colombia's Jessica Sinisterra. Talking about her bout, she said, "I didn't box well in the first. I covered up a lot of ground in the second and third, but my opponent did really well and deserved to be the winner."

The following 21 nations have got at least one boxer in the semi-finals of the AIBA:

- China: 5 boxers

- India: 4 boxers

- DPR Korea, Turkey, United States of America: 3 boxers

- Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, Ukraine: 2 boxers

-Australia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Colombia, Ireland, South Korea, Mongolia, Russia, Thailand, Wales: 1 boxer

Meanwhile, statistics as per continents after the quarter-finals are:

- Asia: 21 medals (16 medals in 2016)

- Europe: 14 medals (16 medals in 2016)

- America: 4 medals (6 medals in 2016)

- Oceania: 1 medal (2 medals in 2016)

- Africa: 0 medal (0 medal in 2016)

The championship, which began on November 15 will end on November 24.