Mary Kom to lead Indian charge in Indoor Asiad

Khel Ratna awardee and four-time world champion M C Mary Kom will spearhead a five-member strong Indian team as women's boxing makes its debut at the Indoor Asian Games in Hanoi on Saturday.

A total of 12 countries are participating in the women's boxing event in eight weight categories. Each country can field a maximum of five boxers except for hosts Vietnam, who are permitted to participate in all categories.

Apart from Mary Kom (46kg), India is being represented by Chhoto Loura (51kg), L Sarita Devi (54kg), N Usha (57kg) and Kavita Goyat (64kg).

Mary Kom has been drawn to meet Ting Lo Yueh of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals of 46 kgs on November 1.

Loura meets Nilmini Kumari of Sri Lanka in the quarter-finals the same day.

Sarita will take on Ayako Minowa of Japan in the quarter-finals and Usha is pitted against Koroleva Oxana of Kazakhstan in the last eight round on Saturday.

Kavita, meanwhile, meets Huong Nguyen Jhi Jhu of Vietnam in the semi-finals on November 1.

The countries are participating in women's boxing include Afghanistan, China, Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Macau, Nepal, Phillipines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Incidentally, this is the first time that Afghanistan has sent women boxers to participate in an International Boxing Tournament abroad.