'Magnificent Mary' is now one step away from a record sixth Gold in the World Championship. She will face Ukraine’s Okhoto Hanna in the final on Saturday.
The five-time world champion started off slowly on Thursday as the young Hyang Mi made her work hard in the first round. The Indian champion pugilist even lost her footing towards the end of the first round. But Mary used all her experience to make a strong comeback in the next two rounds, giving no room whatsoever to Hyang.
“I have an experience of 16 years. I must say, I needed all of that today. She was a tough opponent but I knew how to tackle such a scenario,” said Mary Kom after her victory.
The 35-year-old had beaten Kim Hyang in their last meeting at the summit clash of the Asian Championships last year too.
The mother of three, who is assured of her seventh world championship medal – most by any woman in the world - sounded confident about her record sixth gold medal and even urged the capacity crowd to continue backing her.
“I will try my best to get the Gold medal. I have already beaten her twice previously, so I’m confident of repeating the same on Saturday. I will need all the support and prayers of the crowd to pull of it,” Mary singed off.
Mary last won a world championship medal way back in 2010.
Apart from Mary, India have three more assured medals from Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) Sonia Chahal (57kg) and Simranjit Kaur (64kg) who have advanced to the semifinals of their respective categories.