India Open: Mary Kom, Lovlina, Sanjeet bag gold

Eight gold medals on the day gave India an overall tally of 40 on offer.

In the women's category, Mary Kom won gold in the 48 kg category.

It was a golden climax as Sanjeet Singh and Mary Kom led the host to eight gold medals in the Spicejet India Open international boxing championship at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium here on Thursday. It was a fine success rate for India to win eight out of the 18 finals, with only three gold medals emerging out of all-India finals.

It was a heartening experience for the host to collect 40 medals overall, out of 72 on offer, and sweep USD 41,000 of the USD 100,000 at stake, with gold medallists getting USD 2500, silver USD 1000 and bronze USD 500.

While Olympic medallist and five time World Champion Mary Kom’s gold looked a foregone conclusion, as she had consistently tackled the Filipino Josie Gabuco over the years, Sarita Devi was unlucky to lose 2-3 to Mira Marjut Potkonan of Finland, after a robust performance.

After the Uzbekis and Cuban had accounted for the first three gold medals of the day, it was Sanjeet Singh who broke the shackles for the host with a 3-2 victory over Sanjar Tursunov of Uzbekistan, with his left consistently landing on target from start to finish, in the heavyweight class.

Pwilao Basumatary was equally impressive in taming Sudaporn Seesondee of Thailand in a nerve wracking bout in the women’s 64 kg category.

Confusion There was some drama as Lovlina Borgohain was quickly reinstated as the winner by the announcer after she had wrongly declared Pooja as the champion, leading to celebrations, in the women’s 69 kg class. Thereafter, Mary Kom enlivened the proceedings with her light feet, ring craft and the confidence with which she handled the Filipino who was keen to correct the record against the ace boxer, and managed to convince one of the five judges.

 

 

Pinki Rani came up with an inspired performance to out-punch Ochirabat Jargalan of Mongolia for the 51 kg gold. After Manisha and Amit had scored victories over compatriots to further strengthen the gold haul for the host, it was announced that Manish Kaushik, who had tamed Shiva Thapa, had got a walkover from Mongolian Battumur Misheelt in the 60 kg category. The Uzbeks had the pleasure of listening to their long national anthem through the evening, as the team had the second best gold haul of five, after India. Cuba brought the curtains down with Jorge Moiran Vinent clinching the second gold for the team, in the 64 kg section, by subduing Ikbolion Kholdarov of Uzbekistan. The results (finals):Men 49 kg: Amit bt Shyam Kumar Kakara 5-0. 52 kg: Khudoynazar Fayzov (Uzb) bt Salman Anwar Shaik 4-1. 59 kg: Aboulkhay Sharakhmatov (Uzb) bt Enkh Amar Kharkku (Mgl) 5-0. 60 kg: Manish Kaushik w.o. Battmur Misheelt (Mgl). 64 kg: Jorge Moiran Vinent (Cub) bt Ikbolion Kholdarov (Uzb) 4-1. 69 kg: Bobo-Usmon Baturov (Uzb) bt Dinesh Dagar 5-0. 75 kg: Israil Madrimov (Uzb) bt Osiey Iglesias Estrada (Cub) 3-2. 81 kg: Osvary David Gutierez (Cub) bt Devanshu Jaiswal 4-1. 91 kg: Sanjeet Singh bt Sanjar Tursunov (Uzb) 3-2. +91 kg: Bakhodir Jalolov (Uzb) bt Satish Kumar 4-1. Women: 48 kg: Mary Kom bt Josie Gabuco (Phi) 4-1. 51 kg: Pinki Rani bt Ochirbat Jargalan (Mgl) 4-1. 54 kg : Manisha bt Meena Kumari 5-0. 57 kg: Nesthy Petecio (Phi) bt Sonia 5-0. 60 kg: Mira Marjut Poykonan (Fin) bt Sarita Devi 3-2. 64 kg: Pwilao Basumatary bt Sudaporn Seesondee (Tha) 3-2. 69 kg: Lovlina Borgohain bt Pooja 4-1. 75 kg: Essiane Clotilde (Cmr) bt Saweety Boora 5-0.