Commonwealth Games 2018: Mary Kom advances to semi-final to guarantee herself first CWG medal

Gold Coast: Five-time world champion MC Mary Kom assured herself of a medal on debut at the Commonwealth Games by beating Scotland’s Megan Gordon and advancing to the semifinal on Sunday. The 35-year-old Olympic bronze-medallist quite literally sailed past Gordon to make the last-four stage with a 5-0 win. Her win assured the Indian boxing contingent of its first CWG medal. [caption id=“attachment_4422575” align=“alignleft” width=“381”]  File image of MC Mary Kom. AFP[/caption] Mary Kom, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, will face Sri Lanka’s Anusha Dilrukshi in the semi-final on 11 April. The Indian veteran is the favourite to claim gold in her weight category, which would be her third in the last five months. She had also won gold medals at the Asian Championships and the India Open before settling for a silver at the Strandja Memorial boxing tournament in Bulgaria. But although she has world titles and an Olympic bronze in her trophy cabinet, Mary is yet to win a Commonwealth Games medal. Mary Kom started slowly on Sunday, taking her time to gauge her opponent, although she did land a couple of solid blows. The Manipuri legend landed a flurry of punches in the closing seconds of the opening round to force her opponent on to the ropes. She then upped the ante in the second round, picking up the pace as she peppered Megan with powerful blows. The third and last round followed a similar script with Mary pummelling her opponent with quick combinations. Megan fought bravely as she absorbed the punches and tried to hit back on the counter, but she was no match for the veteran Indian. With inputs from agencies