Asian Boxing Championship | Mary Kom beats North Korea’s Kim Hyang Mi to win gold
Mary Kom rightly proved that she is the gold standard in Indian women boxing as she defeated Kim Hyang Mi in the Asian Boxing Championship final to claim the gold medal. Kom was considered done by many after she failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics but she has proved her critics wrong yet again.
Mary Kom defeated North Korea’s Kim Hyang Mi in the Asian Boxing Championships to win her fifth gold medal in the tournament’s history and sixth medal overall. The 2012 Olympics bronze medallist won the final bout in Vietnam 5-0 by unanimous decision.
After both the boxers started offensively to get an early lead, Kom successfully outpunched her opponent, who despite connecting a few blows, stayed behind. The second and third round saw Kom's patient side as she took her time before picking a strike.
Her defensive stance wearied out her challenger and the Indian got some crucial punches in when the opportunity arose. Her game plan worked perfectly, and she won the final by a unanimous decision. The win proves that she has plenty left in her tank and people were wrong to write her off after failing to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Prior to this, Mary Kom’s last medal came back in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, where she had become the first Indian woman boxer to win gold in the Women’s Flyweight (51 kg) category. Mary had won four gold medals and one silver in previous editions of the Asian Women’s Boxing Championship.