Mary Kom beats Dominican Republic rival Miguelina Hernandez; enters last 16 at Tokyo 2020

Mary Kom made a winning start to her Tokyo Olympics 2020 campaign beating Dominican Republic opponent Miguelina Hernandez Garcia in her opening bout of women's 51kg  event. The 38-year-old nopt only broughther experience inside the ring but showed some good footwork  to outclass her younger opponent. She will take on Ingrit Valencia of Colombia in the next round.

Tokyo Olympics 2020: Mary Kom wins first round 

The bout was evenly poised with the scores locked at 19-19 after the completion of the first two rounds. The third and final round of the match proved to be an exciting affair as Mary Kom rose to the occasion and brought her experience into the play. Miguelina looking to create a major upset  went on the attack in the third round exposing herself for Mary Kom to land her punches . The Indian boxer managed to find her way to land  score points for herself.

While 3 judges ruled the first two rounds in Mary Kom's favour Hernandez's had just two judges favouring her. In the third round though, all five judges voted in favour of the Indian boxer as she eventually won the match 4-1 and entered the Round of 16.   Mary's win comes as a relief for the Indian boxing contingent who did not have a great start to their campaign. Vikas Krishan suffered a loss in the men's welterweight clash on Saturday as the Indian was outclassed by his Japanese opponent Mensah's Okazawa with the scoreline of 5-0 .

Mary Kom's performance at Olympics

The decorated Indian boxer created history back in the 2012 London Olympics, when she won a bronze at the event and was among the eight boxers to have competed in the 51kg weight category which was first introduced in 2012 at the Olympic Games. Post London Olympics success, Mary Kom failed to make the cut for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. At Tokyo Olympics  the Indian boxer would be more than keen to win her second medal in the Olympics and this time her aim will be nothing less than a gold.