Mary Kom defeated Zareen to book her spot in the Olympic qualifiers

New Delhi, Dec 28 (HS): Six-time world champion Mary Kom and Nikhat Zareen met face-to-face in the ring on Saturday at the Indira Gandhi Stadium. Both boxers took part in the BFI trial to participate in the Olympic qualifier, which was won by Mary Kom. Mary Kom defeated Nikhat Zarine 9-1 in the final trial of the 51kg category and secured their place for next year’s Olympic qualifiers.

Former Junior World Champion Nikhat Zarin defeated Jyoti Gulia in Delhi on Friday, while several-time Asian champion Mary Kom defeated Ritu Grewal to make it to the finals. In other results, two-time world silver medalist Sonia Lather (57 kg) was defeated by Sakshi Chaudhary. The Asian medalists could not stand in front of Lather Chaudhary’s fiery attack. In the 60 kg category, former world champion L Sarita Devi was defeated by National Champion Simranjit Kaur. Chata was also important in this match, due to which Simranjeet beat Sarita with sharp punches.

Kom had won a bronze in the 51kg semi-final at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude in Russia losing out to Busenaz Cakiroglu of Turkey on October 12 this year.