World Boxing C'ships: Mary Kom, Sarita sail into Round 2

Five-time champion M C Mary Kom began her campaign in style, out-punching Sweden's Juliana Soderstrom in her opening 51kg bout at the AIBA World Women's Boxing Championships, in Astana, on Thursday.

She defeated Soderstrom 3-0 in a lopsided contest to set up a meeting on Saturday with Germany's Azize Nimani, who stunned Asian Games bronze-medallist Nandintsetseg Myagmardulam of Mongolia.

Former Asian gold-medallist L Sarita Devi also advanced in the 60kg category, getting the better of Belarus' Ala Yarshevich by a similar scoreline.

She will meet Mexico's Victoria Torres, who got a first-round bye.

In a clinical performance, Mary Kom outsmarted an opponent who had height and reach advantage.

The 32-year-old Indian had worked hard on her reflexes ahead of the tournament and the efforts were there to be seen as she easily out-witted Soderstrom's attempts to attack her.

The Asian Games gold-medallist, who is eyeing not just a medal but also an Olympic berth in this event, used her left hooks to telling effect against Soderstrom, who failed miserably in capitalising on her reach.

In fact, the Swede looked clueless whenever Mary Kom mounted an attack.

Every attempt the Swede made at attacking was blocked brilliantly by the swift-moving Manipuri.

Even though Soderstrom did manage to make an impression in the fourth round, she had already lost the larger battle to her more experienced Indian opponent.

In the end, it was hardly a surprise that the judges unanimously picked Mary Kom as the winner.

The prestigious event -- the final qualifying tournament for women boxers in the three Olympic categories of 51kg, 60kg, and 75kg -- has 12 Rio tickets on offer, which means the pugilists will have to at least make the semi-finals of the three chosen divisions to seal a berth.