India Open: Mary Kom, Sarita among 18 local boxers in finals

New Delhi Jan 31 (IANS) Five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom spearheaded the Indian contingent with 18 of them -- including 10 men and eight women -- entering the finals of their respective categories at the India Open International boxing tournament at the Thyagraj Indoor stadium here on Wednesday.

Running a distant second was classy Uzbekistan who saw all their seven boxers sailing through smoothly from the semi-finals.

World boxing giants Cuba who had four in the semi-finals saw three of them take their places in the title round; only Toirac Yohandi Ortega was ousted in the superheavyweight final losing 0-5 to the towering Uzbek Bakhodir Jalolov.

India s charge into the final was led by none other than Mary Sarita Devi and Pinki Rani in the women s session while Manish Kaushik and Dinesh who upset Manoj Kumar led the men s charge.

Shiva Thapa fell by the wayside in the men s semi-finals. Hindered by a slight wrist injury he failed to unravel Manish just like he couldn t during the recently-held nationals.

Southpaw Manish looked in fine fettle and used his speed and power to win 5-0 in the lightweight category.

"I had no pressure on me so I fought freely. I instigated him and then went on the attack " he said after his victory.

Mary suffered some early hiccups in the opening round against her taller and stronger Mongolian opponent Altansetseg Lutsaikhan in the light-fly category. She promptly changed her strategy in the second to turn the bout on its head.

She began by fighting from close quarters only to realise that it wasn t a good tactic against the aggressive Mongolian who cleverly used her height reach and power to her advantage.

In the next rounds the Manipuri pugilist opted to maintain a safe distance before launching into short-burst attacks.

That was enough to throw the Mongolian out of her rhythm and Mary piled on the points for a 4-1 victory.

Mary will take on Josie Gabuco an impressive all-round boxer from the Philippines in the final.

Sarita overcame her Indian counterpart Priyanka Choudhary 4-1 in the light-weight category while Thai girl Chuthamat Raksat found Pinki Rani too hot to handle going down 0-5 in the flyweight division.

Sarita next meets the strong and aggressive Finnish girl Potkonan Mira Marjut who more than packs a punch in the final while Pinki takes on Ochirbat Jargalan of Mongolia.

--IANS
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