Mary's next hurdle in the quest of gold

LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 25: Mery Kom Hmangte of India (Blue) punches Pamela Paoloa Benavidez of Argentina during their quaterfinal, 48kg-51kg bout at ExCel on November 25, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

In a big blow to the Indian contingent, Vijender Singh, a strong medal contender, got knocked out of the Olympics in the quarterfinal round of the 75 kg category. The Beijing games bronze medalist was just one win away from collecting his second Olympics medals but Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan caused a sort of an upset when he defeated the Indian 17-13 verdict.

A lot was expected of the 8 member strong Indian but with Vijender becoming the sixth Indian pugilist to crash out of the 2012 Olympics, the hopes for a gold now lies solely on the legendary MC Mary Kom, who, so far, has looked clinical with her efforts in the ring.

Mary Kom, who predominantly used to fight in the 46 kg and 48 kg category, is now competing in the 51 kg category but in spite of the obvious disadvantage, she has brought all her experience to the fore and out boxed her opponents with well laid out strategies.

On day 10 of the ongoing Olympics, Mary Kom notched up a comprehensive 15-6 victory over Tunisia’s Maroua Rahali to book a slot in the semi finals. With this win, Mary Kom, who made a splendid Olympics debut yesterday, has assured herself of a podium finish.

The five time World Champion took her time initially to measure the Tunisian but increased the tempo towards the later part of the match to put it beyond the Tunisian. Like in the opening match against Karolina Michalczuk of Poland, it was the third round of the fight where Mary adopted aggressive methods and unleashed a barrage of punches to open up a huge 7 point lead going into the final round.

Rahali had the advantage of height and longer reach but the inexperienced boxer was found wanting against the technically superior Mary.

Mary’s challenge in the semi final round will be bigger by many folds as she will be up against Great Britain’s Nicola Adams. Adams, who also had an impressive 16-7 win in the quarterfinals against Stoyka Petrova of Bulgaria, has defeated Mary during the AIBA World Championship earlier this year and the local hope will be keen to do an encore.

However, the Indian will be very aware of the challenge that lies ahead of her and would be well prepared when she squares up against Adams on Wednesday at the at the Excel South Arena. Once inside the ring, it will just be a matter of proper execution with a hope that the officials don’t continue their step motherly treatment towards the Indian pugilists.