India's most decorated boxer MC Mary Kom defeated Ukraine's Hanna Okhota 5-0 to win the coveted gold in the 45-48kg category in the ongoing Women's Boxing World Championships at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.
With this win, Mary Kom, at 35 and a mother of three, became the most successful female boxer at the World Championships. She was previously tied at five gold medals with Northern Ireland's Katie Taylor.
I have fulfilled my duty. I thank my coaches, support staffs @BFI_official @IndiaSports @Media_SAI for all the supports and beloved in me. pic.twitter.com/DbocgISmSH
- Mary Kom (@MangteC) November 24, 2018
Mary Kom had won her maiden gold at the Worlds as far back as 2002. She is the only boxer from that edition who is still active. She has now won six of India's total tally of nine golds at the Worlds. The only other Indians to have won Gold at the Worlds are Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC.
Mary Kom had defeated Okhota in their previous meeting in Poland earlier this year. Okhota is the junior European champion and a former silver medallist at the Youth World Championships.
This is India's first gold at this edition of the Worlds and its third medal overall after Lovlina Borgohain and Simranjeet Kaur won bronze medals previously in the tournament.
Mary Kom has now won gold at the World Championships in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010, besides a silver in 2001. She is also the only Indian female boxer to win a medal at the Olympics (bronze in London 2012). Earlier in the year, she defeated Northern Ireland's Kristina O'Hara 5-0 to become the first the first Indian female boxer to win gold at the Commonwealth Games. She is also a two-time medallist at the Asian Games, winning bronze at 2010 and gold in 2014.
Youngster Sonia Chahal claims silver
Sonia Chahal surprised one and all as she on to win the silver medal in the 57 kg weight category at the World Championships. She went down 1-4 to Germany's Ornella Gabriel Wahner in the final.
Competing at her first-ever Worlds, 21-year-old Chahal became only the third Indian to medal in the 57kg category at the Worlds after Usha Nagisetty and Sonia Lather. Nagisetty had won silver in 2006 and 2008, while Lather had won silver in the last edition in 2016.
Ahead of the tournament, her name had been referenced in official AIBA documents as her senior compatriot Lather. "It was a genuine mistake. A lot people think I am Sonia Lather. AIBA also must have thought so," Chahal told ESPN.
"If I had not won, I would have really struggled to get selected for a tournament once again. I had beaten Sonia Lather and Shashi to get here and for that, it was important to get a medal. In my weight category, there are a lot of experienced players. For me to go ahead, I needed a medal," Chahal had said after assuring herself of a medal.