Four-time world champion Indian boxer, M C Mary Kom began her campaign in the third Asian Indoor Games in a dramatic fashion as she was penalized twice for foul play in her 46 kg first round win over Ting Lo Yueh of China in Hanoi on Sunday.
Mary Kom and her opponent were levelled at 2-2 after the first round but the Indian showed her attacking prowess by taking a 6-2 lead at the end of the second round.
Then started the jittery moments for the Indian camp as the Vietnamese referee gave a public warning to Mary Kom in the third round when she was leading at 7-3, for hitting behind the neck of her opponent.
The score became 7-5 and within another 15 seconds, the referee gave Mary Kom the second warning and two-point penalty for repeating the earlier offence. The penalty took the scoreline to 7-7.
Tension was writ large on the face of the Indian coaches Anoop Kumar and B C Bhat as they told Mary Kom not to commit any more foul and concentrate on punching her opponent.
Heeding to the advice, Mary Kom intelligently earned two important points to end round three at 9-7.
In the fourth and final round, Mary Kom came to her normal self and landed scoring blows on her Chinese opponent to clinch the issue 14-9.
In the 51 kg category, Chhoto Loura defeated Sri Lanka's Kumari Nilmini 10-2. Chhoto maintained the lead from the very beginning of her bout and did not give any chance to her opponent to bounce back.
In the 64 kg category, wherein the bouts were semi-finals, Kavita Goyat beat local boxer Huong Nguyen Thi Thiu 3-2. Kavita was trailing 1-2 when Uzbekistan referee gave a warning to Thiu for holding the Indian.
The crucial two points turned the tide in favour of Kavita and she maintained the lead till the end. She will face Khassenova Saida of Kazakhstan in the final.
