MC Mary Kom’s bid for a second Olympic medal ended in a heartbreak on Thursday after she lost a close fight against Colombian Ingrit Valencia in the women’s flyweight pre-quarterfinals at Tokyo 2020.
Mary Kom lost by split decision against her Colombian opponent but the six-time world champion was stunned with the final result as 2 judges ruled the bout in favour of Ingrit while two went with the Indian boxing legend.
In fact, it was Ingrit’s first win in 3 attempts against the Indian boxer.
Mary Kom in fact, even raised her arm up just before the announcement of the winner was made in the ring before realising that Ingrit was declared the winner.
The 38-year-old couldn’t believe the final result even after she left the boxing arena. Mary Kom spoke to India Today after the bout and expressed her shock after bowing out of her final Olympic campaign.
“I will play until I’m 40, this match was very unfortunate. The decision was very unfortunate.
“They clearly said they will not accept a single protest from the beginning. This was cleared before the bout. I thought I will come back with the medal but I don’t know what’s wrong. I can’t still believe that I’ve lost the match.
Mary did not have the best of starts to the match on Thursday as Ingrit went on the offensive from the word go. The 32-year-old used her experience to push Mary on the back foot early, taking the first round 4-1.
But Mary stormed back by playing it smart in the second round, landing the scoring punches at will and swaying away from moves from her opponent. She took the 2nd round 3-2.
However, in the third round of what was a high-quality boxing bout, Mary looked visibly tired. She went for the kill but it was not enough for the legendary Indian.
