India's woman boxer MC Mary Kom on Saturday claimed a historic fifth successive World Championship title, beating Steluta Duta of Romania 16-6 in the final in Barbados. Mary Kom, who competed in the 48kg category, had defeated Alice Kate Aparri of Philippines 8-1 in semi-final on Friday to assure herself of at least a silver in the sixth edition of the competition.
The former Khel Ratna awardee from Manipur thus remained the only boxer to have won a medal in each edition of the World Championship. Duta had defeated Kazakhstan's Nazgul Boranbayeva 10-5 in the semi-final.
However, there was disappointment as well for India when Kavita (+81kg) settled for a bronze after losing 2-14 to Ukraine's Kateryna Kuzhel in the semi-finals.
Before winning the final, Mary Kom had been quoted as saying: "I am very happy to have come so far. I will do my best to win a gold even this time but I am not thinking too much about it because I need to focus on my game. If I fight well, I will win."
Anup Kumar, the dimunitive boxer's coach believes that Mary Kom's achievements are hard to come by. "It is a tremendous achievement, more so since she has become a mother of twins three years ago. She has been training really hard and attending all the camps religiously, despite her family commitments," Kumar told The Sunday Express from Barbados, minutes after Mary Kom won the record title.
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