The Hindu : Sport : India wins four golds; topples Russia

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Friday, Nov 24, 2006
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India wins four golds; topples Russia

Kirti Patil

PROUD WINNER: Debutant R.L. Jenny seems overcome by emotion after beating Klara Svensson to win the 63kg gold. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena

NEW DELHI: M.C. Marykom led an Indian gold rush at the fourth World Women's boxing championship as the host won four gold medals to topple Russia from the high pedestal, at the NDMC Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

If Marykom was the inspiration for the Indian team, it was Jenny R.L. (63kg) who provided the first cheer. Debutant Jenny was the first Indian on show this evening and she lived up to the expectations gamely. Jenny outclassed Swedish Klara Svensson in the second round to mark a new beginning for India when the referee stopped the contest with Jenny having taken a 23-8 lead.

K.C. Lekha (75kg) went for the kill from the start and raced to 5-1 lead against Jinzi Li of China. Jinzi landed a few punches as Lekha had left open her defence towards the end of the first round, to end at 8-5.

She established a 22-9 lead in the second. In the third Lekha finally won 30-9.

No expectations

With two gold medals already secured, Marykom entered the ring without the burden of expectations. The two-time World champion in the pin-weight category, opened her scoring to thunderous applause. Everyone expected her to complete a hat-trick and she did that by wearing down a fleet-footed Steluta Duta with firm punches. The Romanian looked sharp but Marykom evaded her attacks.

The Indian took a 9-4 lead in the first round. She improved that to 15-5 before a flurry of punches in the third and final round settled the issue for good. Marykom won 22-7.

The results (finals): 46kg: M. C. Marykom (Ind) bt Steluta Duta (Rom) 22-7. 48kg: Ri Jong Hyang (Prk) bt Yesica Bopp (Arg) 14-10. 50kg: Hasibe Erkoc (Tur) bt Siyuan Li (Chn) 18-12. 52kg: L. Sarita Devi (Ind) bt Viktoria Rudenko (Ukr) 24-16. 54kg: Sofya Ochigava (Rus) bt Karolina Michalczuk (Pol) 21-2. 57kg: Yum Kum Ju (Prk) bt N. Usha (Ind) 17-7. 60kg: Katie Taylor (Ire) bt Anabella Farias (Arg) 31-14. 63kg: Jenny R. L. (Ind) bt Klara Svensson (Swe) RSC (OS) II. 66kg: Aya Cissoko (Fra) bt Olexandra Kozlan (Ukr) 10-1. 70kg: Ariane Fortin (Can) bt Akima Stocks (US) RSC (OS) II. 75kg: K. C. Lekha (Ind) bt Jinzi Li (Chn) 30-9. 80kg: Irina Sinetskaya (Rus) bt Chitiqua Hemmingway (US) 13-6. 86kg: Elena Surkova (Rus) bt Maria Kovacs (Hun) 20-16.

Medal tally (read as gold, silver, bronze): India 4-1-3, Russia 3-0-3, North Korea 2-0-1, Canada 1-0-2, Turkey 1-0-1, France 1-0-0, Ireland 1-0-0, China 0-2-2, Ukraine 0-2-2, U.S. 0-2-1.

Team championship: 1. India 34 pts, 2. Russia 28.

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