Mary Kom has Rio chance, but not in her hands

Mary's chance is all but over unless the stars conspire to fulfil her aspiration. The route is a bit convoluted and one has to wait till the end of the World championship to have more clarity on this.

Published : May 22, 2016 17:07 IST , Kolkata

Mary Kom lost in a 51kg second round bout of the women's World Boxing Championship.
Mary Kom lost in a 51kg second round bout of the women's World Boxing Championship.
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Mary Kom lost in a 51kg second round bout of the women's World Boxing Championship.

Five-time World champion and London Olympics bronze medallist M.C. Mary Kom's ambition to end her career with an Olympics gold medal seems to have received a big jolt after the iconic boxer lost in a 51kg second round bout of the women's World Boxing Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Mary's chance is all but over unless the stars conspire to fulfil her aspiration. The route is a bit convoluted and one has to wait till the end of the World championship to have more clarity on this. Read: >Pooja ousted, no Rio quota for Indian women boxers

Jay Kowli, a member of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) ad-hoc committee in India quoted a fellow AIBA official to confirm that Mary had a slim chance depending upon how other boxers perform in the Worlds.

“Right now she (Mary) has not qualified. The only possibility for Mary Kom to qualify is if number one (Ren Cancan of China) and number three (Lin Yu-Ting of Chinese Taipei) from the Asian /Oceanian Olympic qualification tournament finish with a medal in Astana,” said a message from Nicolas Jomard, senior manager corporate and media relations of AIBA.

In the Asia/Oceania qualifying event, Mary Kom managed a bronze medal but lost to Lin Yu-Ting in the box-off to finish fourth. Ren Cancan had bagged the gold medal, while Yodgoroy Mirzayeva of Uzbekistan had settled for the silver to qualify for the Olympics in 51kg.

In the World championship, Uzbekistan has replaced Yodgoroy with Dilnozakhon Odiljonova. So, Mary Kom has to hope that Ren Cancan and Lin Yu-Ting end up within the medal bracket (of four boxers) in Astana so that she can take the lone Asia/Oceania spot vacated by the Chinese superstar.

In case only Ren Cancan makes it to the Worlds medal bracket and Lin Yu-Ting loses before making it to the top-four, then the spot vacated by the Chinese will go the Chinese Taipei boxer. Since Ren Cancan and Lin Yu-Ting are placed in different halves of the 51kg draw, they can only meet in the final.

Mary Kom can only keep her fingers crossed till the middle of the week.

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