Boxing-Kom launches bid for elusive gold with hard-fought win

TOKYO, July 25 (Reuters) – Indian boxing queen MC Mary Kom, a six-time world champion, launched her closing bid for the lacking Olympic gold with a hard-fought opening win in opposition to Dominican Republic’s Miguelina Hernandez Garcia on the Tokyo Video games on Sunday.

The face of the marketing campaign to get ladies’s boxing included within the quadrennial showpiece and flyweight bronze medallist at London 2012, the 38-year-old mom of 4 is about for her Olympic swansong in Tokyo.

The pint-sized boxer delved into her huge expertise to prevail 4-1 in opposition to a rival 15 years youthful and arrange a conflict in opposition to Colombian third seed Ingrit Lorena Valencia Victoria, who gained bronze in Rio 5 years in the past.

“I’ve all of the medals in my hand,” Mary Kom, who has additionally gained gold medals on the Asian Video games and Commonwealth Video games, stated after successful the primary bout of Sunday’s second session.

“It is not straightforward to rely them, however the tough half is constantly successful and performing. The one which’s nonetheless not in my hand is the Olympic gold medal.

“That’s what is driving me and pushing me to hold on. I’m making an attempt my greatest, if I’m able to get it then I will likely be so grateful. But when not then I’ll nonetheless be so glad for all of the medals I’ve gained.”

American Keyshawn Davis’s dream of successful an Olympic gold, unbelievable until final month, was additionally again on monitor when the boys’s light-weight gained his debut combat with a unanimous determination on factors in opposition to Dutch Enrico Lacruz.

Davis wanted skilled assist to handle anger points a number of years again and was faraway from the USA crew final yr after a row over attending coaching camps for the Olympic qualifiers. It prompted him to show skilled in 2021.

His Olympic dream revived unexpectedly when final month he was provided a quota place for Tokyo by way of the IOC Boxing Process Drive (BTF) rankings following his two silver medals on the 2019 world championships and Pan American Video games.

“The gold medal is the one and solely factor that I must put in my resume. As of proper now,” Davis, who gained his first three fights as a professional, stated after a cushty outing in opposition to Lacruz.

“That is the one factor I am specializing in. I by no means skilled something like this earlier than, and now that I skilled it, I am glad that I received the chance to return again.”

A steep job awaits Davis subsequent as he meets Sofiane Oumiha, the French prime seed and Olympic silver medallist in Rio.

Canadian boxer Mandy Bujold was additionally undecided of participation till few weeks in the past and needed to win a authorized battle on the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport over qualification standards to e book her journey to Tokyo.

However the exceptional journey of flyweight Bujold, who was reinstated after the courtroom dominated that the governing physique should accommodate ladies who have been pregnant or had given delivery throughout the qualification interval, got here to an finish with a loss by unanimous determination on factors to Nina Radovanovic of Serbia.

Uzbek Tursunoy Rakhimova kicked off the proceedings on the second day of boxing on the Kokugikan Area – the religious house of Japan’s sumo wrestling – with a 4-1 win in opposition to Pole Sandra Drabik and can subsequent meet top-seeded Turk Buse Naz Cakiroglu.

In males’s mild heavyweight, Imam Khataev, competing in Tokyo as a consultant of the Russian Olympic Committee as a result of the nation was stripped of its flag and anthem for doping offences, was too sturdy for Morocco’s Mohamed Assaghir.

The referee stopped the competition within the third spherical however Khataev can have a harder outing subsequent in opposition to Kazakh prime seed Bekzad Nurdauletov.

Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; enhancing by Stephen Coates and Pritha Sarkar

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