Sarita, Mary Kom in semis; 7 medals assured for India at Polish boxing tourney

The seasoned duo of L Sarita Devi and M C Mary Kom were among the six Indian boxers to enter the semifinals and be assured of a medal along with a youth pugilist in the 13th International Silesian Championship for women in Gliwice, Poland.

Sarita, a former world champion and Asian Games bronze-medallist, defeated Czech Republic's Alena Czechy 5-0 Wednesday night after going past Kazakhstan's Aizan Khojabekova in the opening round of the 60kg category the day before.

She will now square off against another Kazakh in Karina Ibragimova in the semifinals.

Five-time world champion and Olympic bronze-medallist Mary Kom is yet to set foot inside the ring but is through to the semis owing to the small size of the draw in the light flyweight 48kg category.

India's first and only Asian Games gold medal-winning woman boxer is returning to the ring after missing the recently-concluded edition in Jakarta due to minor fitness issues.

Among other Indians in fray, Ritu Grewal won her bout against Russia's Svetlana Rosja 4-1 to make the 51kg category semifinals along with Lovlina Borgohain (69kg). Borgohain got the better of Czech Republic's Martina Schmoranzova.

Joining them in the last-four stage were former Asian youth champion Manisha (54kg) and Pooja Rani (81kg).

Manisha out-punched former world champion Dina Zholaman of Kazakhstan 5-0, while Pooja defeated Ukraine's Anastasiia Chernokolenko in her quarterfinals bout by a split verdict.

In the youth competition, Jyoti Gulia (51kg) advanced to the medal round with a 5-0 win over Germany's Rafaela Arampatzi.

However, Seema Punia (+81kg), Pwilao Basumatary (64kg) and Shashi Chopra (57kg) lost their respective bouts to bow out of medal contention.

Seema was beaten by Kazakh Lazzat Kungeibayeva 5-0, while Basumatary lost by a similar margin to Poland's Natalia Barbusinska.

Shashi, on the other hand, lost to England's Anglia Chapmen, also a unanimous verdict.

In the junior competition, Raj Sahiba (70kg) defeated Poland's Barbara Marcinkowska 5-0.

In the 75kg category, Neha got the better of Daria Parada by a similar margin, while Komal (80kg) had to toil for a 3-2 win over Martyna Jancelewicz.