Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom won her fifth gold medal at the Asian Boxing Championships at Ho Chi Minh. She defeatedNorth Korea’s Hyang Mi Kim in the 48 kg category to clinch gold.
Mary Kom found Hyang Mi as one of the most aggressive opponents so far in the tournament, however she was determined for the gold.
Unlike her previous bouts, in which the opening three minutes were invariably spent measuring up the rival, both the boxers were lunging at each other within seconds of the bell going off.
Matched quite evenly in speed and precision, Mary Kom scored for her ringcraft, which included some fine footwork to outpace Hyang Mi at crucial junctures.
This was her first international gold medal in five years, since her win in the 2014 Asian Games.
In Tuesday's semi-final, the champion defeted Japan's Tsubasa Komura, which was also in a unanimous 5-0 verdict to make the final for the fifth time out of the six times she had participated.
The 35-year-old Rajya Sabha MP, who is also a former Olympic bronze-medallist, returned to her preferred weight category after five years of competing in 51kg, which was made an Olympic category in 2012.