Marykom

Hanoi: Four-time world champion MC Marykom staved off a stiff challenge from local pugilist Hoa Nguyen Thi to win the 46 kg title as India won two gold and as many silver medals in women’s boxing of the third Asian Indoor Games here Wednesday.

Kavita Goyat (64kg) won the second gold for India while L Sarita Devi (54 kg) and N Usha (57kg) bagged a silver medal each.

Swimmer Virdhawal Khade bagged his first medal, clinching the bronze in the 50m freestyle event, clocking 22.45 secs in the finals. The gold in the event was won by Stanislav Kuzmin of Kazakhistan with a timing of 22.20 secs, while Uzbekistan’s Daniil Tulupov bagged the silver clocking 22.29 secs.

The other Indians in the fray had a mixed day. Cueist Pankaj Advani crashed out but compatriot Manan Chandra kept medal hopes alive in the 15-Red Snooker discipline. Advani, who displayed immense maturity and depth in his techniques to win both his encounters Tuesday, was not at his usual best and lost 65-10, 49-81, 41-65, 72-67, 11-56, 68-42, 39-65 against Jin Long of China Wednesday.

However, Chandra has a shot at the bronze medal when he takes on UAE’s Mohammed Mustafa Al-Hashmi for the third place Thursday.

Archer Maisnam Chinglensana Luwang also moved into the semi-finals of the men’s compound individual event. Luwang will lock horns with Reza Zamaninejad of Iran at the Haiphong Youth Gymnasium Thursday. He defeated Chakrit Thongwattana of Thailand 117-114 in the quarter finals. None of the other archers could make it to the last four.

Marykom had to really dig deep against the Vietnamese who was not intimidated by the reputation of the Indian. Marykom was the first to open account and was 1-0 up after first round. The second round saw the local boxer matching Marykom punch for punch as both scored two points each.

The third round was more entertaining as both the boxers went all out for points and both scored three each, with Marykom leading 6-5.

In the final round, the Indian not only held off the Vietnamese but scored two crucial points to the local opponent’s one to win the bout 8-6.

Kavita fetched India’s second gold in boxing by defeating Khassenova Saida of Kazhakstan 8-4 in a close final bout in the 64 kg category.

At the end of third round, Kavita was leading by just a point at 5-4 but the Indian scored three points without reply in the final round to win the bout.

In contrast to Kavita, L Sarita Devi lost her 54kg final bout against Zhang Qin of China.

Meanwhile, W Sandhyarani fetched a bronze in women’s 56kg wushu. She lost her semi-final match against Iran’s Maryam Tavakoli 0-2. (PTI)