File image of MC Mary Kom
With her quarterfinal victory on Thursday morning at the World Women's Boxing Championships, MC Mary Kom assured India of the first medal at the 2019 edition of the tournament and subsequently became the first boxer ever to win eight medals in the history of the tournament. She will now be aiming for her seventh gold medal the summit clash.
The six-time champion who is presently chasing her first medal in the 51-kg category, defeated a spirited rival in Valencia Victoria of Colombia, 5-0 to advance to the semifinal stage of the tournament. She has started off slowly against the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist but picked up the pace later in the final two rounds to deliver accurate blows to reach the semis. The judges' verdict stood 29-28, 30-27, 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 in favour of Mary Kom.
Earlier in the tournament, Mary Kom had defeated Thailand's Jutamas Jitpong 5-0 in the last-16 stage after getting a bye in her opener.
With the victory on Thursday, Mary Kom assured herself of an unprecedented eighth medal at World Championships. She had won a silver in 2001 in Scranton before scripting a streak of six golds from 2002 to 2018. Besides these, Mary Kom had won an Olympic bronze medal (2012), five Asian titles, gold medals at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.
She will next face second seed Busenaz Cakiroglu of Turkey on Saturday in the semifinals.
