India’s Mary Kom, on Wednesday, beat North Korea’s Hyang Mi Kim by unanimous decision to win 5-0 and land her fifth Asian Championships gold medal in what was a thrilling final at Ho Chi Minh.
The five-time World Champion was put under a fair bit of pressure from her opponent in the first round. However, the Indian quickly worked her way around it and in a terrific display of counter-punching put her opponent on the back foot.
Hyang continued to be on the offensive in the second but failed to make much headway as Mary Kom was once again up to the task, ducking well and fending off attacks using her body, even when she was taken to the corner of the ring. Towards the closing stages of the second round, Mary Kom all but sealed the contest by landing a couple of ferocious jabs.
With little option but to go for broke in the third round, Hyang kept the attacks coming. Here, Mary’s ring coverage and experience in blocking out punches came to the forefront, and saw out the victory. This was the 34-year-old’s sixth final appearance in the Asian Championship. Apart from her five gold medals, Mary Kom also has a silver to her name.
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