‘Box office’ hit: The girls with gloves

Lekha (75 kg) and Jyotsna (80 kg) had made it to the final when the higher weight category semi-finals took place on Thursday. Today, seven others, MC Marykom (46 kg), Meena Kumari (50 kg), Sushma (52 kg), L Sarita Devi (54 kg), Asha Rani (60 kg), RL Jenny (63 kg) and Aruna Devi (66 kg) joined them to lead India’s charge in the finals.

The North Korean team, strongest on paper after finishing first at the World Cup in Turkey last year, have eight finalists, five of them pitted against the Indians.

Hisar is a surprising choice for this continental championship, considering the fact that it doesn’t even boast of an indoor stadium. But as it so often happens, sporting events follow political clout these days. Abhey Chautala is the chief of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation, and that makes Haryana an automatic choice for hosting premier boxing tournaments. But seeing fantastic crowd attendance all the cynicism about the venue selection disappears.

Meena Kumari seemed the most spurred on by this support as she smashing Lee Chi Man of Chinese Taipei in less than a minute-and-a-half.

Women’s boxing is yet to become a world sport, and Laila Ali remains one of a very small breed. But amateur boxing is definitely catching up, and as Shbib M Kameel, executive committee member of AIBA, the world governing body of boxing, says, ‘‘We are quite sure that by the 2008 Olympics, women’s boxing will be included in the Olympics. Asia remains the best centre in the world, but its improving across the world.’’

To get back where we started from, India’s performance at the tournament so far has been highly impressive. And it is far beyond the expectations of the hosts.

Before the tournament Indian chief coach Anoop Kumar had said that the only sure gold medal winner from the pack is Marykom, who won the gold at the World championships. Kumar had added, ‘‘We will be happy to win a few silvers and bronzes and don’t hope for too much.’’

But he had evidently done enough with his wards to make them strong enough to hit paydirt at Hissar. Add to that the month-long preparatory camp at Rome, and the team seems set for an unprecedented haul. And not just that if a few punches hit gold it will be a big boost for the popularity of the game in India.