India boxers Mary Kom, Kavita win golds at Asian Indoor Games

Hanoi, Nov 4: World Champion boxer M.C Mary Kom and Kavita Goyat won gold for India in the Asian Indoor Games here Wednesday.

Other Indians, Sarita Devi and N. Usha lost their final bouts and had to contend with silver medals.

Four-time world champion Mary Kom used all her experience to beat Hoa Nguyen Thi of Vietnam 8-6.

Mary Kom, with her crisp straight punches and sharp jabs led 1-0 at the end of round one and finished 3-2 after the second round. Round three ended with the score reading 6-5 in favour of the Indian. Mary Kom increased the lead in the last round to silence the vociferous home crowd.

Kavita, in the 64 kg, beat Khassenova Saida of Kazakhstan 8-4.

Kavita led 2-0 after the first round, and extended the lead to 4-2 in the second round.

Saida came back strongly in the third round and narrowed the margin to 4-5. The Indian, however, showed guts in the last round and bagged three more points without conceding any.

In the 51 kg finals, Sarita Devi lost to Qin Zhang of China 7-9.

Usha also lost her 57 kg, going down 2-3 to Peamwilai Laopeam of Thailand.

The International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) conferred an 'AIBA Special Award' on Mary Kom for her outstanding contribution to boxing.

The award was presented by Nieva Embuldeniya from Sri Lanka, the Technical Delegate of this Championship and also the AIBA Executive Committee Member from Asia.