Vijender leads five boxers into finals, Mary Kom knocked out

Wed, Nov 24 10 10:22 PM

S S Ramaswamy Guangzhou, Nov 24 (PTI) World number one Vijender Singh displayed his sublime class while storming into the 75kg gold medal round along with four other compatriots but women''s five-time world champion Mary Kom settled for a bronze after losing in the semifinals in the Asian Games here today. Star boxer and Beijing Olympic bronze medal winner Vijender lived up to expectations as he pounded Mohammad Sattapour of Iran 10-7 with an all-out open stance attack in the third and final round after trailing in the first three minutes in a tense semifinal bout. Vijender, who meets Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan for the gold medal fight on Friday, joins teen sensation Vikas Krishan (60kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg), Santosh Kumar (64kg) and Manpreet Singh (91kg) after an action-packed day''s action. Just before Vijender made it to the title round, Santosh defeated Masuk Wuttichai of Thailand in the 64kg semifinals to book a berth in the final against Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan in the final on Friday. Manpreet Singh then outclassed Jakhan Qurbonov of Tajikistan 10-2 to set up a title round fight against Mohammad Ghossoun of Syria, also on Friday. But, the euphoria over the quintet''s successful run into the title round that assures all of them at least a silver each was tempered by the shock 7-11 defeat of Mary Kom in 51kg class against China''s Cancan Ran. Also out of gold medal contention was Kavita Goyat, who bowed out after losing her 69-75kg bout to Chinese Jinzi Li 1-5. Earlier in the men''s section, Commonwealth Games gold medal winners Suranjoy Singh (52kg) and Paramjeet Singh Samota (+91kg) lost their semifinal bouts and had to settle for a bronze each. Out of nine boxers who reached the semifinals, five made it to the finals while four, including the two women, had to settle for the bronze medals. Mary Kom, who won five titles in 46kg and 48kg but fighting in a higher weight category here, was no match for the taller Cancan -- the reigning world champion in 51kg -- who dominated the experienced Indian. Mary Kom scored only one point in the first and third rounds while her bigger opponent had accumulated three. The Indian fought back in the fourth and got three points but Cancan had the edge throughout. .

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