Mary Kom enters final as India dominates Day

East Khasi Hills

The Olympian entered the ring to a rousing cheer as the NEHU, SAI Special Area Games indoor stadium echoed with calls of 'Mary Mary' as the most sought after bout of the day got underway.

Mary Kom's Bangladesh opponent in the blue corner, Shamina Akter was in her shell in the first round not willing to let the Indian get to business. The Indian stepped the gas button in the second round bringing in to play all her experience and footwork to knock two straight punches. What followed was a technical knockout for the Bangladeshi.

Meanwhile, in what was another day of domination for the Indians, L Devendro Singh (Light fly 46-49 kg), Shiva Thapa (Bantam 56 kg), Madan lal (Fly 52 kg), Dheeraj (Light 60 kg), Manoj Kumar (Light Welter 64 kg), Mandeep Jangra (Welter 69 kg), Vikas Krishan (Middle 75 kg), L Sarita Devi (women's light 57-60 kg) and Pooja Rani (women's middle 69-75 kg) also made it to the finals.

Sarita Devi, who had ousted her opponent within 40 seconds en route to the semi final yesterday, was well resisted by her Nepal opponent Saraswati Rana but nevertheless won the bout 3-0.

While Round 1 was thoroughly dominated by Sarita, the opponent stood up to the challenge in the second, though only for a while, to make Sarita sweat. The five-time Asian champion Sarita then killed competition in the final round to proceed.

Earlier, Shiva Thapa put up yet another dominating show dismissing his Bangladesh rival 3-0. Shiva delivered a straight punch right way to set the tempo.

Md Ohiduzzaman somehow survived two technical knockout calls even as he was rattled by a right jab. The Assam boxer's speed was also too hot to handle for the Bangladeshi who could only wait for the inevitable.

In other bouts Pakistan's Ruksana Parveen was handed over a round 3 technical knockout by Sri Lanka's M Vidhushika.

In another exciting bout, Afghanistan's Rahemi Alla delivered a severe blow to Bangladesh' Rahim Abdur for a round 1 TKO.

Tomorrow, it would be an almost all India-Pakistan affair with India's Devendro Singh taking on Pakistan's Mohib Ulla in the light fly category final, Vikas Krishan fighting Pakistan's Ahmed Tanveer in the middle weight category final, Dheeraj taking on Pakistan's Ahmed Ali light weight category, Madan Lal challenging Pakistan's Syed Md Asif in the fly weight category. Mandeep Jangra, meanwhile will face Afghanistan's Rahemi Alla in the welter category, Shiva Thapa will play Sri lanka's R Thilina in the bantam category final and Manoj Kumar will battle it out with D Suparamadu.

The women's finals will be played on Tuesday.