Coach Bergamasco for Mary-Nikhat trial

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 19

The saga over a possible trial bout between eight-time World Championships medallist Mary Kom and challenger Nikhat Zareen is unlikely to end anytime soon.

Raffaele Bergamasco, India’s high-performance coach from Italy, has also spoken on a controversy that could have been avoided if the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) had not opted for inaction. Bergamasco said he is in favour of a trial bout between the two 51kg boxers. “They are both good girls and good boxers. In this moment, Mary is number one as she is very talented and the only boxer in the world to have won eight World Championships medals,” Bergamasco told The Tribune. “But Nikhat is equally good, so I don’t see why it (trial) shouldn’t be held.” “For me, both of them are like my daughters. If it is possible, I want the trial to happen. I think Mary will win the trial,” he added. “But the final decision will have to be taken by BFI.”

The controversy reared its head after BFI decided to correct its flawed selection policy for the Olympics Qualifier, scheduled to be held in February 2020 in Wuhan, China.

BFI first announced that the women boxers who reached the finals in this month’s World Championships would get a direct entry for the Wuhan tournament. However, BFI later changed the criteria, announcing that all women medallists from the World Championships would get a direct ticket to the Wuhan qualifiers. This is BFI’s criteria for the male boxers, too.

Trial, error

Earlier this year, BFI had reversed its decision to hold trials for the World Championships. Nikhat or Vanlal Duati was to take on Mary to qualify for the World Championships. BFI called off the trial after Mary threatened to abstain from it. Apparently, BFI feared a media trial and accepted Mary’s stance.

Mary reacted aggressively when asked to respond to Nikhat’s demand for a trial before the Wuhan qualifiers. “Who is she? I don’t know. Let the BFI handle it. For right or wrong BFI is handling everything,” the eight-time Worlds medallist said.

“I have faced her many times. I defeated her in SAF Games. She keeps challenging me,” she added. 

Boxing is not Bindra’s business to interfere: Mary  

MC Mary Kom has said boxing is not Abhinav Bindra’s “business to interfere”, expressing her displeasure at the Olympics champion’s backing of Nikhat Zareen’s demand for a trial bout against her. On Thursday, Bindra backed Nikhat’s demand for a trial bout against the six-time world champion before India’s squad for next year’s Olympic qualifiers is decided. That did not go down well with Mary Kom. “Bindra is an Olympics gold medallist but I too have multiple golds at the World Championships. This is not his business, to involve in boxing, to interfere. I don’t talk about shooting, so it is better for him to stay quiet on boxing. He doesn’t know the exact rules of boxing,” Mary Kom said. She added, “I don’t think Abhinav would also go for trials before every shooting tournament.” — PTI