Mary Kom, Sarita Devi strike gold
Source: The Sangai Express / PTI

Shillong, February 16 2016: MC Mary Kom and Pooja Rani knocked out their respective opponents while L Sarita Devi survived a scare as India grabbed all the three gold medals on offer in women's boxing for an overall clean-sweep of top honours in the 12th South Asian Games on Tuesday.

On a comeback trail after recovering from a shoulder injury, London Olympics bronze-medallist Mary Kom (51kg) packed a powerful punch against her seasoned Sri Lankan rival Anusha Kodituwakku Dilrukshi to be adjudged winner via Technical Knockout (TKO) in a bout lasting less than 90 seconds.

With Mary landing some powerful blows, Anusha lost her balance and injured her right knee.

This forced her to take a medical break before attempting a come- back.

However, a booming jab from the five-time world champion sent her almost out of the ring before the referee intervened.

After the rousing start given by Mary, Incheon Asian Games bronze-medal- list Pooja Rani Devi signed off the campaign in style in the 75kg when she over- whelmed Nilanthi Andaraweer by a TKO in a bout lasting only one round.

The only scare India en- dured was when Sarita Devi, returning to competitive ring after her one-year ban follow- ing the infamous Asian Games meltdown, faced a stiff challenge from another Lankan opponent in M Vidushika Prabadhi.

The Incheon bronze- medallist overwhelmed the Lankan in the first two rounds but her opponent came back strongly in the third round with some pow- erful blows leading to Sarita falling twice before the In- dian won by a narrow 39-36 margin to be ad- judged unanimous winner 3-0. The pugilists thus fin- ished their campaign with all the 10 gold medals in box- ing after the men's team clinched the top honour on Monday.

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