MEXICO CITY — Karla Sanchez San Martin, one of Mexico’s few female bullfighters, vowed Tuesday to return to the ring by mid-January, two days after she and several others were gored by what she said was a “very smart” bull.

The 26-year-old bullfighter, who fights under the stage name of “Karla de los Angeles,” suffered a pair of gashes to the thigh and buttock when she was gored twice by the 1,090-pound bull Gamusino.

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Karla Sanchez San Martin, one of Mexico’s few female bullfighters, recovers from injuries in Mexico City, on Tuesday. She said she’s determined to return to the ring Jan. 18. The Associated Press

“From almost the beginning, he was hunting me,” De los Angeles said from the hospital room where she was recovering from a 9 1/2 inch gash to the thigh and 6-inch slash to the buttock.

De los Angeles was going in for the kill when the bull lifted his head, caught her with a horn and tossed her into the air. Bandaged up, De los Angeles re-entered the ring to finish off the bull.

“But the bull had already learned,” she said, noting he held his head high, making it hard for her to drive the sword in.

He caught her a second time with a lifted horn and tossed her to the dirt, goring her again.

A group of four bullfighters’ assistants rushed in to carry off the wounded matador, but the bull wasn’t done yet.

He chased and gored one of the assistants carrying De los Angeles, and broke the ribs of another.

Another bull in Sunday’s fight leapt over the ring wall, crushing a spectator’s face. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

“It was one of those afternoons where the accidents happened one after the other, that leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those in the ring and the stands,” the Plaza Mexico bull ring wrote in an article on its web site.

De los Angeles said of the wounds, “the truth is, right now it hurts a little bit” but “this is not going to discourage me.”

She said she has a fight on Jan. 18, “and I’m going to be there.”

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