The controversy between Nikhat Zareen and Mary Kom regarding the representation at the Tokyo 2020 qualifier is all set to come to an end as according to a report from The Times of India, both pugilists will face off against each other in the first week of December to decide who is going to represent India at the Olympic qualifiers in 51kg category.
The Olympic qualifiers will take place in Wuhan next year. The controversy emerged after Mary Kom won a Bronze medal at the world championships in Russia last month. As a result, many presumed that the six-time world champion would get a direct ticket to the Olympic qualifiers.
But according to a rule by Boxing Federation of India, only boxers securing Gold and Silver medal would get a direct entry in the qualifiers. This resulted in Nikhat vying for a trail. The decision was taken after a meeting between BFI, SAI officials along with coaches Raffaele Bergamasco and Santiago Nieva.
“We have stuck to our rules. There won’t be any going back on it and everything is now clear, no confusion at all. The trial will preferably happen after the Indian Boxing League (IBL), which is scheduled from December 2 to 21, 2019. There’s an interesting point. Bergamasco told the gathering that Mary Kom never had a problem giving a trial against Zareen and all this drama happened following the BFI president’s statement. Mary Kom started backing his statement. In fact, coaches stated that they were always in favour of a trial,” according to the source from TOI.
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