Mary Kom vs Nikhat Zareen to headline India's boxing trials

The national boxing trials ahead of the Olympic qualifiers are set to get underway on Friday, December 27, at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi. The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) had, last week, announced the names of the Indian boxers, who will be participating in the two-day trials for the Olympic qualifier tournament.

The fight everyone has been waiting for

The trials will put an end to the speculation that was whirling around Nikhat Zareen, who had been insisting on a trial against MC Mary Kom for the longest time. And after the fans were denied a face-off between the two at their planned Big Bout match-up, the trials look like they will finally deliver a bout between the two 51kg stars.

As per the BFI, boxers ranked first and fourth will face off against boxers ranked second and third, “The winners of each bout will make it to the final trial match and the winners here in each of the 5 categories will then be selected to be part of the Indian Team to participate in the Olympic Qualifiers.”

With that criteria in place, Zareen will fight Jyoti Gulia, while Kom will take on Ritu Grewal, and there’s a good chance, given their form, that Kom and Zareen will end up in the final of the weight category.

The other women to watch out for

Looking past the exciting prospects that lay in wait in the 51kg category, we need not look further than the 69kg category, which include a healthy crop of India’s bright and burgeoning stars in the likes of Assam’s Lovlina Borgohain and RSPB’s Meena Rani, who most recently impressed handily at the AIBA Worlds.

In the trials, Delhi's Anjali will fight two-time World Championship bronze medallist Borgohain, and Rajasthan's Lalita will be pitted against RSPB's Rani.

In the 57kg category, Sonia will take on her namesake and fellow RSPB player and World Championship silver medallist Sonia Lather, while Haryanvi pugilists Sakshi and Manisha will be matched up against each other.

In the 60kg category, All India Police's L Sarita Devi will be squaring off against Haryana's Shashi Chopra while Punjab's Simranjit Kaur is going to lock horns with RSPB's Pavitra.

Finally, the 75kg category will see Kerala's Indraja KA taking on Asian Games bronze medallist Pooja Rani, and 2014 World Championship silver medallist Saweety Boora will square off against fellow Haryanvi Nupur.

The men of mettle

Among the men, one of the more tantalising prospects will be 57kg category combatants Kavinder Singh Bisht, the 2019 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships silver medallist, clashing with 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medallist Gaurav Solanki. Apart from them, 2018 CWG bronze medallist Md Hussamudin will be facing Sachin.

In 69kg, Vikas Krishnan will take on RSPB’s Ashish, while SSCB teammates Naveen Bora and Duryodhan Singh Negi squaring off against each other.

In 75kg, Ashish Kumar of Himachal Pradesh will take on Haryana's Ankit Khatana.

In the 81kg category, Brijesh Yadav of Rajasthan has been named along with Services Sports Control Board's (SSCB) Sachin Kumar. Sumit Sangwan had also been included, however, a one-year ban by NADA has put paid to his chances.

In 91kg, Naman Tanwar of RSPB will take on SSCB's Gaurav Chauhan, while SSCB teammates Satish Kuar and Narender will fight each other.

The chosen ones

While the above pugilists slug it out for a place in the qualifiers, Manish Kaushik and Amit Panghal will be exempted from judgement, thanks to their medal-winning performances at the 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships, and they will appear directly at the qualifiers.

What next and where can I watch?

After the trials, it will fall on the likes of former World Cup bronze medallist and Olympian V. Devarajan, who will be one of the selectors for the women's boxing trials, to decide who India front at the Olympic qualifiers which will be held in China in February, 2020.