Asian Boxing Championship | Mary Kom and Sonia Lather advance to the finals

India’s brilliant run in the Asian Boxing Championship continued as MC Mary Kom and Sonia Lather progressed into the finals of their respective categories in Vietnam. Mary Kom beat Tsubasa Komura of Japan for the fifth time in her six appearances at the event and will next face North Korea's Kim Hyang Mi in the final.

Though it was easy going for Mary Kom in the semis, it needed patience and the experienced Olympic medalist did just that. Both the boxers started off defensively with Komura keeping a safe distance from her opponent who had to lunge to land a right hook in the first round. Mary was seen increasing her tempo in the next round to unsettle Komura and used her shell guard to stave off the Japanese’s frail right straights, ensuring a lopsided contest.

She emerged victorious at the end by a unanimous 5-0 verdict, reaching the final for the fifth time. Her next opponent, Kim Hyang Mi, got the better of Mongolian Nandintsetseg Myagmardulam to reach there, and a Mary Kom win would mark her first gold in the 48kg category.

Sonia Lather, on the contrary, had a tough opponent to deal with in Yodgoroy Mirzaeva, who was aggressive right from the beginning. However, the Uzbek’s lack of accuracy cost her the bout in the end as her wild swings were easily deflected by the Haryana boxer. The former silver medalist waited for her opponent to tire out before getting on with her trade. Sonia was adjudged the victor unanimously and will be up against China's Yin Junhua in the final on Wednesday.

The other five boxers, however, had to settle for bronze medals. Sarita lost to China's Dou Dan in the semifinals, while Shiksha ended her campaign by going down against Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu-Ting. Priyanka was outplayed by Korea’s Oh Yeonji, and Lovlina went down to Kazakhstan's Valentina Khalzova. Direct entrant Seema lost to Kazakhstan's Guzal Ismatova.