Former junior world champion boxer Nikhat Zareen has written to the sports minister Kiren Rijiju, demanding a trial bout against Olympic bronze medallist MC Mary Kom before India's squad for next year's Olympic Qualifiers is decided.
The letter comes a couple of days after BFI president Ajay Singh had hinted that Mary Kom would not have to participate in selection trials for the Indian squad that will participate at the Asia Olympic qualifiers in February next year.
"There could be a rethink, for sure. We will look at the policy and see who is better prepared at that time to get us a medal at the Olympics. We have no hard and fast rules on this," Ajay had suggested after Mary Kom had won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Ulan Ude last week.
In her letter, Zareen also mentions that she was denied a chance to participate in a selection trial against Mary Kom for a place in the Indian team that traveled to the World Championships.
"Sir, the very basis of sport is fair play and need to keep proving oneself each and every time. Even Olympic gold medallists have to fight again to qualify to represent the country," Zareen wrote in the letter.
"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 competition and not actually defend her Olympic qualification.
"On the sixth and seventh of August, I was invited to a trial in New Delhi for selection for the World Championships. To my utter dismay the trial was cancelled and Mary Kom was sent. After this decision, the BFI announced that gold and silver medallists from the World Championships will be exempt from the Olympic trials.
"Today I have been reliably informed that the rule is now being changed to accommodate my senior Mary Kom as the Indian candidate without a trial."
There is some confusion though whether the BFI announcement that Zareen refers to, says what she says it does. The announcement can be read in the minutes of a meeting held by the BFI in August to determine the roadmap for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. At the meeting, the selection criteria for the men's and women's team for the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifiers were determined.
It was decided there that for the selection for the women's team, the gold or silver medallist of the AIBA World Championships 2019 would be sent directly to the first Olympic qualifiers to be held in China. With Mary Kom having only won a bronze medal at the World Championships, it would seem she had not met the standard for directly taking part in the Olympic qualifier.
However, there is no clarity over the second criteria which states that in the case of weight categories where there is no medallist at the AIBA World championships, there will be a selection trial among the top four boxers as per the participant criteria mentioned below:
1) Participant of AIBA World Championships
2) Gold medal winner at the National Championships
3) Silver medal winner at the National Championships
4) Top boxer selected by the coaches and selection committee.
Mary Kom might not have won a silver or gold at the World Championships, but neither does she come under the second criteria which requires there to be "no medallist at the AIBA World Championships." The second category also does not guarantee that Zareen will be one of the four boxers in the selection criteria, since the National Championships for 2019 will only be conducted in December this year.
This confusion is absent in the selection criteria laid out for the men's team. According to the BFI document, the medallists of the AIBA World Championships will be sent directly to the first Olympic qualifiers to be held in China. For the weight categories in which the boxers could not get a medal at the World Championships, there will be selection trials among the top four boxers as per the participation criteria mentioned below:
1) Participant of AIBA World Championships
2) Gold medal winner at the National Championships
3) Silver medal winner at the National Championships
4) Top boxer selected by the coaches and selection committee.
BFI president Ajay Singh seemed to address this lack of clarity when he suggested that the selection criteria for both men and women should be the same.
"The rules should be same for everyone. As a matter of principle I will never accept that rules are any different for men and women," he had said.