Mary Kom Defeats Nikhat Zareen 9-1, Refuses To Shake Hands After Fight

The Manipur boxer refused to shake Nikhat’s hands after the finals of the ongoing Women's Boxing Olympic trials. Nikhat was left teary-eyed after a heated argument broke out between Telangana boxing officials and Boxing Federation of India officials, including the president

Mary Kom Beats Nikhat Zareen On Split Decision, To Compete In Tokyo 2020 Qualifiers/ Photo: AFP

New Delhi: Six-time World Champion Mary Kom won the much-talked-about bout by defeating Nikhat Zareen 9-1 in the 51kg category in the boxing trials at the Indira Gandhi Stadium on Saturday, booking her spot in the Olympic qualifiers. The 36-year-old will now travel to China for the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualifiers in February 2020.

The Manipur boxer refused to shake Nikhat’s hands after the finals of the ongoing Women's Boxing Olympic trials. Nikhat was left teary-eyed after a heated argument broke out between Telangana boxing officials and Boxing Federation of India officials, including the president.

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

She doesn't shake Zareen's hand after the fight 😬😬pic.twitter.com/BiVAw9PCSd — MMA India (@MMAIndiaShow) December 28, 2019

In the 51kg category, Kom defeated her opponent Ritu Grewal in a unanimous decision while Zareen too outclassed her opponent Jyoti in a unanimous decision on Friday.

Nikhat is in tears. There's a heated argument between Telangana boxing officials and Boxing Federation of India officials, including the president. Nikhat tries to calm things down https://t.co/l6IK1cawSR

— Mihir Vasavda (@mihirsv) December 28, 2019

The trials for the women boxers are underway and will conclude today while the men's trials will take place from December 29 to 30. Earlier, Zareen had demanded a 'fair chance' to contest the Tokyo Olympic qualifiers. On October 17, Zareen had written to the Sports Ministry challenging the Boxing Federation of India's (BFI) decision to accommodate world champion Kom by changing its rule of exempting gold and silver medallists from the World Cup. 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.

(With ANI Inputs)