Mary Kom to Face Off Against Nikhat Zareen in Bout to Decide Olympic Participation

Guwahati, November 9, 2019:

A trial match between 6-time world boxing champion MC Mary Kom and young pugilist Nikhat Zareen is all set to be held in the last week of December. The bout will likely decide India's representative for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers, in the 51kg category next year.

The decision has been informed to Boxing Federation of India's (BFI) president, Ajay Singh through his office staff on Friday.

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As per officials, the trial will preferably happen after the Indian Boxing League (IBL), which is scheduled from December 2 to 21, 2019.

This bout gains special significance after former junior world champion boxer Nikhat Zareen had written to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, demanding a trial bout against the six-time World Champion MC Mary Kom before India's squad for next year's Olympic Qualifiers.

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It may be mentioned here that Mary Kom (51kg) was selected for the recently held World Championships event ahead of Zareen, who was refused a trial by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).

Nikhat also took to Twitter to post the letter and tweeted, “All I want is a fair chance. If I’m not given the opportunity to compete what am I training for. Sports is about Fair Play & I don’t want to lose faith in my country. Jai Hind.”

In the letter, she brought an example of how even Michael Phelps had to qualify every single time to participate in the Olympics. She added, “I have been inspired by Mary Kom since I was a teenager. The best way I can do justice to this inspiration was to strive to be as great a boxer as her. And Mary Kom is too big a legend in sport to need to hide from the competition and not actually defend her Olympic qualification.”

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