M. C. Mary Kom was magnificent as always. And so were Gaurav Solanki and Vikas Krishan as India celebrated its finest hour in boxing in a long time. Indian pugilists gained three golds out of six finals on Saturday at the Commonwealth Games.
Chants of 'Mary, Mary' surrounded the ring where Mary, the 35-year-old and mother of three young boys took her bow at the Games. The 48kg gold at the Games was the only medal missing from her collection and she received it with a smile on her face, waving at her supporters and acknowledging their support with a namaste .
The final against Kristina O’Hara (Northern Ireland) was an intense contest. O'Hara, the young boxer, was in no mood to accept defeat. Mary Kom was visibly nonchalant as she waited for O’Hara to open up before launching swift counters. That was a ploy which worked well through all the three rounds, after which she gained an unanimous verdict from the judges.
Gaurav Solanki carried on India's good work in the men's 52kg final against Brendan Irvine (Northern Ireland). The 21-year-old got his punches, uppercuts and jabs well on target before retreating to stoutly defend himself from the counters of his opponent. The verdict in his favour was, however, split at 4-1.
The seasoned Vikas Krishan played a similar game against Wilfried Seynitsengue (Cameroon) in the men’s 75kg final. He stuck to the basics to deflate his opponent.
Disappointment
Amit Panghal was defeated by Galal Yafai (England) in the men’s 52kg final, a contest which looked good to go either way. More demoralising was Manish Kaushik's loss in the 60kg category. He lost to Harry Garside (Australia) in what looked an even fight in which the Indian seemed to have enjoyed the upper hand all through. Kaushik was surprised by the 3-2 split decision in favour of his opponent.
Satish Kumar in the +91kg too had to settle for silver in a similar manner. He was defeated by Frazer Clarke (England) on points. Despite the setbacks, there was plenty to cheer for India on Saturday.
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