Mary Kom Opens With Win in World Championship

Bridgetown (Barbados), Sep 11 : Four-time defending champion M C Mary Kom (48kg) began her campaign in style, out-punching Sweden's Lungo Vesenne Natalie 10-1 in the opening round of the sixth World Women's Boxing Championships here.

Dubbed 'Magnificent Mary' by the International Boxing Association (AIBA), Mary Kom was slightly cautious to start with before gaining in confidence to lead 2-0 after the opening round.
The mother-of-two from Manipur built on the lead making it 6-0 in the second round. Mar Kom added four more points to her kitty in the next two rounds to round off a dominating performance.

Her next opponent in the pre-quarterfinals tomorrow would be Jenny Smith of Australia.

However, there was disappointment for India in the 54kg category when Priyanka lost 6-10 to Asian Champion Zhang Qin of China.

At the end of the first round, Priyanka trailed 2-4 and never really recovered from the deficit to bow out of the tournament in the opening round itself.