After claiming unanimous victories in their respective first-round bouts in New Delhi on Friday, the six-time world champion MC Mary Kom and Nikhat Zareen are going to clash in the 51kg category finals of the women’s boxing trials for next year’s Olympic Qualifiers.
Mary Kom beats Nikhat Zareen
While the former junior world champion Zareen defeated reigning national champion Jyoti Gulia, on the other hand, the multiple-time Asian champion Mary Kom defeated Ritu Grewal in their respective first-round bouts. The two-day competition will after the finals end on Saturday.
A few weeks ago, Zareen had kicked up a storm by demanding a trial against iconic six-time world champion MC Mary Kom after the Boxing Federation of India’s flip-flop on the selection policy for the Olympic Qualifiers.
On the other hand, Mary Kom had maintained that she would abide by the selection policy laid down by the BFI, which ultimately decided to have trials.
This came after the BFI President Ajay Singh triggered the storm by announcing at a felicitation ceremony that due to her consistent international performances, Mary Kom would be selected for the Olympic qualifiers without any trial.
This irked Zareen who then demanded to have a fair chance against the celebrated Manipuri, who is also a Rajya Sabha member.
Meanwhile, in other trial bouts which were held on Friday, world youth gold-medallist Sakshi Chaudhary defeated Asian silver-winner Manisha Maun in the 57kg category, while former national champion Simranjit Kaur defeated Pavitra in the 60kg opener.
The Olympic qualifiers are scheduled to be held in China in February next year. All five categories in women’s boxing are being decided by trials as none in the 51kg, 57kg, 60kg, 69kg, and 75kg divisions managed to make the finals of the world championships.
Reportedly, after the women’s trial, the two-day trials for men is scheduled to be held in Bellary, Karnataka starting from Sunday.
