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Mary Kom enters quarterfinals

Mary Kom enters quarterfinals

India’s M.C. Mary Kom punched her way into the quarterfinals of women’s boxing in the 51kg category at the 2012 London Olympics on Sunday.

Known as 'Magnificent Mary', the five-time World Champion dominated proceedings from the start and gave a superb exhibition of aggressive boxing to outpunch the Polish in her opening bout.

Thanks to the few lethal blows the Manipuri unleashed on her Polish opponent, Mary set up a last-eight date with Tunisian pugilist Maroua Rahali.

"It was a good way to start, the whole country was praying for this win. There were lot of people of all religion who were praying for me and I am happy that I have crossed the first hurdle," Mary said after the win on Sunday.

With a seizable Indian crowd cheering for her, the 29-year-old Mary went into attacking mode straightaway as she unleashed a flurry of punches, but her Polish rival defended well, not allowing the Indian to score many points in the first round which ended 3-3.

In her eagerness to take a decent lead in the very first round, Mary tripped and fell down but she did not allow that to affect her concentration.

Mary began to consolidate her position from the second round onwards which she won 5-4, but again lost her balance and fell to the ground.

However, the turning point was the third round, in which she rained blows on her opponent -- a world No 5.

A couple of good left-right hook combination with a fantastic left upper cut fetched her seven points to the Polish girl's four.

The lead of 15-10 after the third round proved to be decisive and the Manipur girl did well enough to hold on to the cushion.

Although she looked jaded in the final round, Mary still managed a couple of right hooks to get four points and, with her opponent being equally tired, that helped her cause as Karolina was unable to pull things back.

Mary got plenty of support from the crowd, mainly the Indians, who kept chanting 'India, India' and 'Mary Kom, Mary Kom' as she kept herself in medal reckoning.

"It was tough as it was the first bout of the Olympics. It was the first Olympics for me and it is a very good experience," the Indian added.

Considered as one of India's best prospects, now only a Tunisian stands between Mary and a medal.