Boxer Nikhat Zareen has written a letter to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju appealing for a fair trial for the Olympics qualifiers to be held from February 3 to 14 in Wuhan.
Zareen posted the letter on Twitter, asking Rijiju to give her the opportunity to represent the country and compete.
“All I want is a fair chance.If I'm not given the opporunity to compete what am I training for. Sports is about FairPlay & I dont want to loose faith in my country.Jai Hind,” Zareen tweeted, tagging Rijiju, his official Twitter handle, Sports Authority of India (SAI), Boxing Federation of India (BFI), the Twitter handle of the prime minister's office and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy.
She highlighted that the trials for selection to the World Championship were cancelled in August and Mary Kom was directly sent to Ulan Ude, Russia to compete. The Manipuri boxer won a bronze―her eight world medal―after losing to Turkey's Busenaz Cakiroglu in the semifinal.
Zareen, who competes in the same category (51kg) as Mary Kom, also said that the BFI decided to send the senior boxer for the Olympic trials directly, despite announcing that gold and silver medallists from the World event will be exempt from Olympic trials. The BFI tweaked the rule after announcing that as bronze medallists in men's division make direct qualification, women can as well, putting Mary Kom at an advantage to directly qualify for the Olympic trials.
“...the very basis of sport is the concept of fair play and the need to keep proving oneself each and every time. Even Olympic Gold medallists have to fight again to qualify to represent the country.” She cited the example of 23-time gold medallist swimmer Michael Phelps, who had to qualify the trials every time for the Olympics.
Zareen said that while Mary Kom is her inspiration and she strives to be as great a boxer as the Manipuri, she would like the opportunity to compete, adding that she looked for no favours, just fair play.
“...whether Mary Kom or I or any other boxer qualifies after the trial, we can a sleep at night knowing that every one of the candidate got the best possible opportunity to make India proud at the Olympics.”
Zareen, in her letter, implored the sports minister to “help protect the honour of sports”.