Mary Kom bows out, Ankush in semis at Mongolia boxing tourney

New Delhi, June 23 (PTI): Indian boxing star M C Mary Kom’s (51kg) comeback ended in heartbreak as she bowed out with a quarterfinal loss even as Ankush Dahiya (60kg) advanced to the last-four stage of the Ulaanbaatar Cup in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Mary Kom, who was returning to action after a one-year hiatus, went down by an unanimous decision to Korean Chol Mi Bang.
The 34-year-old, a five-time world champion and an Olympic bronze-medallist, struggled to connect against her taller rival and was even warned once for excessive bending.
Mary Kom would be going back to the light flyweight 48kg category after this to focus on the Asian Championships in November and the Commonwealth Games next year.
However, Asian youth silver-medallist Ankush Dahiya and Priyanka Chaudhary (60kg) won their respective quarterfinal bouts in the men’s women’s draws to make the medal rounds.
While Ankush outpunched Mongolia’s Dulgunn Oyunchimeg, Priyanka got the better of Russia’s Aleksandra Ordina.
Ankush will be up against Russian Radna Tsibikov in his last-four stage. Priyanka, on the other hand, will square off against Korea’s Hye Song Choe.
However, Duryodhan Singh (69kg) lost to Mongolian Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar in his quarterfinal bout to bow out of the event.
Also making an exit was Kalawanti (75kg) who lost to Russian Liubov Iusupova.