London Olympics bronze meddalist Mary Kom gets last chance to qualify for Rio

Five-time world champion and London Olympics bronze medallist MC Mary Kom has extended her dominance over arch-rival Pinki Jangra.

In selection trials for the World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan (from April 19 to 27) held here in the Capital, the Manipur pugilist once again defeated her bitter rival from Haryana in a close bout. The WC would be her final chance to qualify for this year's Rio Games.

The showdown between the two boxers in the trials, which was held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor (IGI) Stadium here on Tuesday, wasn't publicised much as was the case with their previous encounters.

The bout was tough but the technical judges unanimously decided in favour of Mary Kom, thus giving her another chance to secure an Olympic berth.

India's most successful boxer failed to qualify from the Asian Qualifying tournament in China last month. Even that time Mary Kom had defeated Jangra, the 2014 Glasgow CWG bronze medallist, in the trials to book her berth at the Asian Qualifiers.

The AIBA-appointed ad-hoc committee quietly went about their business to select the team for the Worlds. According to one of the senior coaches present there, the bout, which was of four rounds of two minutes each, had some angry moments when both Mary Kom and Jangra contested few points. But, it was the Manipuri pugilist's experience and "technically correct" punches which sealed her spot at the Worlds, leaving Jangra disappointed.

For Jangra, Mary Kom's toughest competitor in 51kg, this was her second defeat in as many months. But Mary Kom couldn't afford to celebrate her victory at the moment. She has a much tougher task at hand, a do-or-die battle ahead.

The Worlds will be contested by all those women boxers, who haven't qualified for the Rio Games. This would result in a tough competition as everyone would be looking to book the last spot available.

Mary Kom has to make the semi-finals of the Worlds to not only put her in the medal contention, but to also qualify for her second successive Olympics. At the Asian Qualifiers, Kom had lost in the semis to old foe Ren Cancan of China, but only the gold and silver medallists from that tournament qualified for Rio.

This time, the only and the biggest advantage for Mary Kom would be that those boxers, who have already qualified for Rio, would be participating in the competition. That would mean that if any of these boxers end up in the top four, Kom could still qualify as a "best loser".