Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg category) defeated Nikhat Zareen in an intense trial bout here on Saturday to make the Indian team for next year’s Olympic qualifiers in China.<\/p>\n
In a bout which had very few clear punches, Mary Kom prevailed 9-1 to make the squad, but tension was palpable inside the boxing hall owing to the bitter row triggered by Zareen’s public demand for a trial.<\/p>\n
Words were exchanged between the boxers during the bout and outside the ring, a few representatives from Zareen’s home state Telangana’s boxing association cried foul once the result was declared.<\/p>\n
“I was a bit angry. There is no doubt. But it’s all done now. I have moved on. All I say is that talk once you perform not before that. Everyone can see what you do in the ring,” Mary Kom told PTI after the bout.<\/p>\n
Mary Kom did not respond to Zareen’s attempt at hugging her after the bout.<\/p>\n
“They call it clinching in our sport,” was her sharp retort on being asked about it.<\/p>\n
“I am hurt by how she behaved. She used some foul language inside the ring too, but it’s ok,” said Zareen.<\/p>\n
Boxing Federation of India President Ajay Singh had to step in to control the situation after AP Reddy, claiming to represent the Telangana Boxing Association vociferously protested the decision.<\/p>\n
“How will boxing grow amid this kind of politics,” Reddy later told reporters after being asked to leave the ringside by Singh and pacified by a disappointed Zareen herself.<\/p>\n
Bitterness dominated the buildup to the bout after it was insinuated that the onus was on Mary Kom to agree for the trial even though it was a call that the federation had to take.<\/p>\n
Mary Kom was visibly pumped up at the end of the bout in which she impressed with her composure.<\/p>\n
In other results, two-time world silver-medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) was upstaged by a swift-moving Sakshi Chaudhary. Lather, also an Asian medallist, couldn’t cope with Chaudhury’s relentless attack.<\/p>\n
In the 60kg category, former world champion L Sarita Devi lost to national champion Simranjit Kaur. It was once again a battle of pace as Kaur outwitted Sarita with her precise hitting and quick reflexes.<\/p>\n
Also making the squad was two-time world medallist Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) after beating Lalita.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg category) defeated Nikhat Zareen in an intense trial bout here on Saturday to make the Indian team for next year’s Olympic qualifiers in China. In a bout which had very few clear punches, Mary Kom prevailed 9-1 to make the squad, but tension was palpable inside the boxing hall owing to the bitter row triggered by Zareen’s public demand for a trial. Words were exchanged between the boxers during the bout and outside the ring, a few representatives from Zareen’s home state…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25449,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25445\/revisions\/25449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}