India had a mixed bag of results at the boxing arena of the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. Six-time World champion and London Olympics bronze medallist M.C. Mary Kom won her first-round match, while World Championship bronze medallist Manish Kaushik exited despite putting up a valiant show.
Beginning her quest for a second Olympics medal, Mary warded off a strong challenge from Dominican Republic’s Miguliena Garcia to record a 4-1 win and reach the women’s 51kg pre-quarterfinals.
She will take on Olympic Games bronze medallist and third seed Ingrit Valencia of Colombia.
Competing against an opponent 15 years younger, the 38-year-old Mary boxed from a distance and moved around nicely to land the perfect head jabs. Miguliena replied by delivering a few straight punches in the first round.
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Mary stepped up her attack through her jabs and combination of punches, while Garcia countered strongly in the second round.
After staying ahead with an identical 3-2 verdict in two rounds, Mary connected a few clean shots to have a clear advantage in the third. Miguel gave her best before bowing out of the Olympics.
Manish went down fighting 4-1 against European silver medallist and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Luke McCormack of Great Britain in a 63kg opening round.
McCormack displayed his beautiful combinations against Manish’s single shots, mostly aimed at his rival’s body, to take the first round 3-2.
Manish switched gears to mix his powerful head and body shots and stay ahead 3-2 in the next. The Britain boxer won the duel after the closely-fought final round that witnessed trading of blows from both opponents.
McCormack will face third seed and two-time World champion Andy Cruz of Cuba in the next round.
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