India were assured of a medal without a fight, owing to the small size of the draw, even as favourites such as M C Mary Kom (48kg) advanced to the quarter-final of the India Open boxing tournament here. Mary Kom countered her rival’s attack quite easily, digging from her experience to claim a unanimous win. Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Pinki Jangra, seeded sixth, had no trouble sailing past compatriot Meenakshi in the same weight category. Afghanistan ended up giving two walkovers after their women boxers Nilofar (57kg) and Shogufa Qadri (51kg) could not come due to some personal issues. The USD 100,000 tournament is the first joint men’s and women’s event being held in India.

Source: Hindustan Times January 28, 2018 14:15 UTC