India’s most decorated women’s boxer MC Mary Kom will not be competing at the Rio Olympics after the five-time former World Champion made a second round exit from the ongoing World Championships in Astana.
The tournament is women’s boxing’s final qualifying event for Rio with 12 spots available in three different categories.
Mary, competing in the 51kg category, lost her pre-quarter-final bout to Azize Nimami of Germany in a hard-fought match, ending all hopes of repeating her Bronze medal-winnings performance from the London Olympics. Only competitors who reach the semi-final in this tournament are guaranteed a ticket to Rio.
In an exciting contest, Mary Kom took off aggressively but Nimani managed to keep her at bay by fighting from a distance. In fact, Nimani hardly attempted any attack on the Indian in the opening two minutes but managed to connect a few counter-jabs to take the initial edge.
Mary Kom continued to be aggressive in the second round as well, connected much better but failed to get the judges’ nod, who again ruled in favour of Nimani on a split decision. Gaining in confidence, Nimani stuck to her gameplan and forced Mary Kom to let her guard down.
The diminutive Manipuri threw herself aggressively at the German, whose punching was far from clean. Nimani’s defensive tactics frustrated Mary Kom, who quite literally threw herself at the German to connect.
However, the determined attack failed to yield the desired results for her as Nimani was declared winner on a split vote.
Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani are the two Indian boxers still in contention for a spot in Rio at the ongoing tournament.
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