Manju Rani enters final, Mary Kom signs off with bronze

Debutant Manju Rani 48kg advanced to the final but sixtime champion M C Mary Kom 51kg settled for a bronze medal in the World Womens Boxing Championships here on SaturdaySixthseeded Rani defeated Thailands Chuthamat Raksat 41 in her semifinal bout She will take on secondseeded Russian Ekaterina Paltceva in the summit clash on SundayBut the seasoned Mary Kom and another debutant Jamuna Boro 54kg settled for bronze medals after semifinal lossesMary Kom seeded third lost 14 to second seed Cakiroglu who is the reigning European Championships and European Games goldmedallist Boro went down 05 to top seed and former Asian Games bronzemedallist Huang HsiaoWen of Chinese TaipeiThe Indian contingent sought a review of the decision in Mary Koms bout but the appeal was turned down by the International Boxing Associations AIBA technical committee The rules mandate that the decision has to be either 32 or 31 for an appeal to be even accepted for considerationI am very disappointed with the decision I think I fought much better and did not deserve to lose but I will try to ensure that this setback helps me achieve bigger things Mary Kom told PTIRani who hails from Haryana and made the national camp only this year put up a gutsy show against the more muscular Raksat Relying on counterattacks in the first two rounds the Strandja Memorial silvermedallist went on the offensive in the final three minutesShe rattled the Thai with her ferocious combination punches piercing through her shell guard with forceful straight punchesMary Kom also fought a tactically sound bout but was edged out by the Turk in a split verdict Both the boxers seemed hesitant to make the first move in the opening round but Mary Kom had the edge in counterattacks as Cakiroglu struggled to make her height advantage countThe second round followed a similar pattern as far as the tactics went and although it was close the judges ruled in the Turks favour in a split callIn the final three minutes both the boxers upped the ante but Cakiroglu got the judges nodMary fought exceptionally well and should have won the bout We are still quite stunned that the decision did not go in her favour Indias assistant coach and Mary Koms trainer Chhote Lal Yadav told PTIDespite this loss it was a stupendous campaign for the 36yearold Mary Kom and added to her long list of accomplishments This bronze is her first world medal in the 51kg categoryBesides six world titles Mary Koms incredible career is also studded with an Olympic bronze medal 2012 five Asian titles gold medals at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games besides numerous other international top finishesLater in the day last editions bronzemedallist Lovlina Borgohain 69kg will face Chinas Yang Liu who took down top seed Chen NienChinCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever