India's boxing champion Mary Kom on Day 6 lost her chance to bag the second Olympic medal in the the pre-quarters of Tokyo Olympics on Thursday. The London Olympics bronze medalist lost against 3rd seed Ingrit Valencia of Colombia via split decision in a closely-contest Round of 16 match in the Women's Flyweight category. Valencia won the bout 3-2.
Valencia advanced to the quarter-finals of the showpiece event after defeating Mary Kom in the women's flyweight (48-51kg) category event. Valencia got off to a flyer as she won the first round. Four out of the five judges gave her a 10 while one had a 9 for her showing.
Mary Kom, earlier this week came up with a dominant display of boxing in her opening round on Sunday. She defeated Dominican Republic's Miguelina Hernandez Garcia 4-1.
Mary displayed all her experience and skilss by coming up with a tactical masterclass against Migueline who is 15 years her junior. Starting on a cautious note, the 38-year-old swayed away from punches and gauging her opponent, who is a a Pan American Games bronze-medallist.
Mary Kom put behind the disappointment of missing the Rio Olympics qualification and provided she was not done by winning the world championships gold medal in of her home fans in 2018. A bronze followed at the 2019 World Championships.
On the other hand, two-time Asian champion Indian boxer Pooja Rani (75kg) out-punched Algeria's Ichrak Chaib in her opening bout to enter the quarterfinals of her maiden Olympic Games here on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old Indian clinched it 5-0, thoroughly dominating a rival 10 years her junior.
The Haryana-boxer was in command with her right straights and also benefitted immensely from Chaib's lack of balance in the ring. All three rounds were a story of Rani's domination as Chaib, also appearing in her maiden Olympics, just could not figure a way to connect cleanly.
