Competing for the first time in over a year, Olympic bronze-medallist M C Mary Kom (51kg) assured herself and India of at least a bronze medal by advancing to the semifinals of the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) Olympic Test event in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
The Indian defeated Venezuela's Karlha Magliocco 3-0 in the quarterfinal bout of the event, where boxers have been individually invited by the world body and the Rio Olympics organising committee. Mary Kom, 33, will next be up against Virginia Fuchs in the semifinal bout on Saturday.
The five-time world champion had been laid low by a shoulder injury which forced her to skip last year's World Championships. Among the men, Rohit Tokas (60kg) bowed out of the competition after losing 0-3 to Venezuela's Luis Cabrera in his opening bout. The Indian team for the ongoing Test event also includes 2010 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar and World Championships quarterfinalist Satish Kumar among others.
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