Press Trust of India
Astana (Kazakhstan), May 21: Five-time World Champion MC Mary Kom’s hopes of a second successive Olympic appearance ended Saturday after she went down in the second round of the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships here. In a late night match L Sarita Devi also lost.
Mary Kom (51kg), who was a bronze medallist at the 2012 London Games, lost 0-2 to Germany’s Azize Nimani in the second round of an event from where only the semifinalists would make the cut for the upcoming Rio Games.
In an exciting contest, Mary Kom started aggressively but the taller Nimani managed to keep her at bay by fighting from a distance. In fact, Nimani hardly attempted any attack on the Indian in the opening two minutes but managed to connect a few counter-jabs to win the first round.
Mary Kom continued to be aggressive in the second round as well, connected much better but failed to get the judges’ nod, who again ruled in favour of Nimani.
Gaining in confidence, Nimani stuck to her gameplan and forced Mary Kom to chase her around the ring, but not being able to land blows effectively. However, the determined attack by Mary Kom failed to yield the desired results for her as Nimani was declared winner on a split vote.
