London: It was another unsatisfactory day for India at the Olympics as boxers MC Mary Kom and Devendro Singh lost their 51kg and 49kg bouts respectively. Mary Kom settled for a bronze after she lost her semi-final bout against Great Britain's Nicola Adam 6-11, while Devendro lost to favourite Paddy Barnes 18-23 in the quarter-finals.
Adams, ranked No. 2 in the world for flyweight boxing, lived up to her favourite tag with a rousing display of strength and accuracy, outplaying Mary Kom in each of the four rounds.
The current European Champion and three-time World Championship silver medallist dominated her Indian opponent in the ring with a flurry of powerful combinations. Mary Kom looked a pale imitation of the boxer that brushed past Tunisia's Maroua Rahali in the quarter-finals.
Ireland's Barnes put Devendro to the same humiliation. Barnes won 7-5 10-5 6-8 to see off the Indian boxer. Devendro was docked two points for head-butting in the second round. He showed a lot of aggression all through but failed to score points. Barnes on the other hand mixed caution with aggression and got the desired result.
However, there was one good news for Indian fans: Tintu Luka qualified for the women's 800m semi-finals after finishing third in one of the heats.
Luka clocked 2:01.75 to finish third in heat number two behind reigning world champion Mariya Savinova (2:01.56) of Russia and Alice Schmidt (2:01.65) of the United States at the Olympic Stadium.
The top three in each of the six heats and the best six others advance to the semi-finals to be held on Thursday (0000 IST on Friday).
Luka, who started at lane number four, was running at second for some time in the first lap, but at the beginning of home stretch, she was at fourth and it looked like she would not get the automatic qualification for the semi-finals.
But the 23-year-old Indian, coached by legendary PT Usha, just about overtook Malika Akkaoui (2:01.78) of Morocco with a desperate lunge at the finishing line to finish third.
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