SAVANNAH MARSHALL is two wins away from a place at the Olympics after winning her opening bout at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in Kazakhstan.
Marshall, who made her Olympic debut at London 2012 and was a gold medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, missed out on a place at Rio when she lost at the recent qualifying competition.
However, there are a number of Olympic places available at the World Championships, and yesterday’s victory over Azerbaijan’s Elena Vystropova leaves Marshall needing two more victories to claim a Rio spot.
The Hartlepool middleweight dominated the opening round of her contest with Vystropova, aiming a series of hooks into her opponent’s body, and controlled the rest of the fight with a high degree of composure.
Vystropova briefly threatened to rally in the second round, but the Azerbaijani fighter was docked a point for holding and Marshall ran out a unanimous points winner.
The pair have history together as Marshall beat Vystropova as she claimed a gold medal at the World Championships in 2012.
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