World Boxing Championships: Mary Kom assured of 8th world medal, enters semifinals
Ulan-Ude (Russia): Six-time champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) on Thursday surpassed herself as the most successful boxer in the history of the Women's World Championship, securing an unprecedented eighth medal by advancing to the semifinals here.
The third-seeded Mary Kom defeated a spirited rival in Colombia's Valencia Victoria, fetching a unanimous 5-0 verdict to make the last-four stage.
"I am very happy to have secured a medal but I would be looking to make it better by reaching the finals," the 36-year-old star said after the bout.
"It was a good bout for me and I will now try to improve on this performance in the semifinals," she added.
Awaiting her in the semifinals on Saturday, after a rest day on Friday, is second-seeded Turk Busenaz Cakiroglu, who is the reigning European Championships and European Games gold-medallist. Cakiroglu defeated China's Cai Zongju in her quarterfinal bout.
However, two-time bronze-medallist Kavita Chahal (+81kg) bowed out after a 0-5 loss to Belarus' Katsiaryna Kavaleva.
In a tactful performance, Mary Kom waited for her chances and defended sharply to ensure that Victoria's plan to impress the judges by throwing in more punches didn't yield results.
The Indian's huge reservoir of experience came in handy as she swung her right arm masterfully to connect well-placed hooks. Her straight punches were as effective and regularly pierced through Victoria's reasonably strong defence.
With this, Mary Kom bettered her own record as the most successful boxer in the history of the marquee tournament. The Manipuri, in terms of number of medals won, is in fact numero uno cutting across both the men's and women's competitions.
Cuban icon Felix Savon is the most successful in the men's event with seven medals -- six gold and a silver.
Entering into this edition, Mary Kom had six gold and a silver in her kitty but this is the first time, she has secured a world medal in the 51kg category. She had finished a quarterfinalist in this division in the past.
The latest achievement has only added to her ever-growing legend.
Besides six world titles, Mary Kom's 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 finishes.
This year alone, she won gold medals at the India Open in Guwahati and President's Cup in Indonesia. She is also a member of the Rajya Sabha.
However, three-time Asian medallist Chahal didn't seem up to it and put up a rather sloppy show against a more agile Kavaleva, who got the result merely by hitting straight and clean for most part of the bout.
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
