Indian Boxing round-up | Mary Kom, Gaurav Bidhuri make President's Cup finals; Ashish Kumar bags gold in Thailand

Six-time world champion and India's finest female boxer Mary Kom (51kg) had to work hard to fight off some competition in the semi-finals to make the finals of the ongoing 23rd President’s Cup in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia on Saturday. A total of nine Indian women made the final in various categories at the international meet yesterday. 

This was Kom's first tournament after winning the India Open two months ago and looked to get some much-needed practice ahead of the World Championships in October. Mary beat Vietnam’s Anh vo Thi Kim registering a 3-2 win and will be facing Australia’s Franks April on Sunday.

In addition to that, World Championship bronze medalist Gaurav Bidhuri was also made to work hard for a 3-2 win over Philippines’ Ogayre Junmilardo as Ankush Dahiya also bagged a yellow medal by an identical scoreline over Korea’s Giheon You in the 64kg category.

Meanwhile, Asian Championships silver-medallist Ashish Kumar won his first international gold medal as the Indian boxing contingent finished their campaign with a haul of eight medals at the Thailand Open International tournament in Bangkok. India finished with a gold, four silver and three bronze medals in the tournament. India's Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Asian Championships silver medallist Deepak (49kg), GeeBee Boxing silver-medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg) and India Open silver medallist Brijesh Yadav (81kg), all finished second in their respective categories in Bangkok.