A medal at AIBA World Championships could confirm Mary a spot in Olympic qualifiers

If Mary Kom returns without a medal from Russia, then she will have to undergo a selection trial, which will see a gruelling contest amongst top four boxers, including Nikhat Zareen, in her weight category.

New Delhi: Ace boxer Mary Kom has been selected for the AIBA World Championships without any formal selection trial. Now, if the six-time world champion manages to secure either a gold or silver at the Worlds in Ulan-Ude, Russia from October 3 to 13, she will qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games Qualifiers, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) confirmed on Thursday.

But if the veteran boxer returns without a medal from Russia, then she will have to undergo a selection trial, which will see a gruelling contest amongst top four boxers, including Nikhat Zareen, in her weight category.

The next session of selection trial will be held between December 27, 2019, and January 2, 2020.

The trials for the World Championships, held last month in the national capital, had sparked a controversy after the BFI denied Telengana boxer Nikhat Zareen, a current Asian Championships bronze medallist, an opportunity to try her luck to qualify for the Worlds. As BFI scrapped the 51kg category selection trial Mary automatically qualified for the Worlds. The 36-year-old will not want the issue getting flared up again. So, she will look to clinch a medal at the Worlds for her controversy-free passage to the Olympic qualifiers.