Gold rush for Indian pugilists in 4th World Championship

New Delhi, Nov 23 (UNI) MC Mary Kom completed a treble as Indian pugilists boxed their way to glory and gold, clinching the team championship with four gold, one silver and three bronze medals in the fourth World Women Boxing Championship here today.

With their last day medal sweep, the Indians beat defending champions Russia by 36 points to 25 for the team title.

It rained gold for the hosts with four of the five Indians in the finals winning their respective bouts.

MC Mary Kom was the star of the evening as she completed a hat-trick of gold medals in the 46 kg category by beating Steluta Duta of Romania in the final.

The pint sized Manipuri dynamo was in her elements from the very start and seized the initiative eastablishing a 9-4 lead in the first round.

The defending champion continued her assualt in the next two rounds and the Romanian hardly had a chance against Mary Kom, who was combining straight blows with some precise hooks.

Steluta had given up by the end of the second round and went down 22-7 in the end to the Indian.

''I am very happy to have made the country proud with this win. I am delighted to see the crowd response today and the fact that women's boxing is finally getting recognition makes this win all the more special,'' an exhausted but relieved May kom said after the bout.

But much before Mary Kom, Jenny RL and Lekha KC had opened the floodgates for India with their final wins in the 63 kg and 75 kg category.

Sarita Devi then added to the tally with her win over world number three Viktoria Rudenko of Ukraine in the 52 kg category final.

N Usha, however, faltered and suffered a heart-breaking 7-17 loss to the Best Boxer of the Tournament, Yum Kum Ju of Democratic Republic of Korea.

Usha was undone by her tendency to start late. Ju ran away with the lead and never allowed the Indian to claw her way back into the match.

The Indian had to be content with a silver.

However, there was lot to cheer before this loss as India claimed their first gold in their opening bout today.

Jenny outclassed Swede Klara Svensson in the 63 kg category. The Mizo pugilist, who was promoted to DSP rank in Mizoram police today, was relentless in the ring and out-scored Klara in the second round on her way to claiming the gold medal.

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