New Delhi: Union Sports Minister Kiran Rijiju has given a statement on the letter of boxer Nikhat Zarine. Nikhat Zarine had demanded the Sports Minister to conduct a trial match against MC Mary Kom. On this, he said that he can only ask the federation to take the best decision in the interest of the country and the players. Zarine had on Thursday written a letter to Rijiju seeking to conduct a trial match against Mary Kom ahead of the Indian team's selection for next year's Olympic qualifiers in China.
Earlier, the Indian Boxing Federation said that it intends to choose the six-time world champion, keeping in mind the performance of Mary Kom (51 kg) winning the bronze medal at the recent World Championships in Russia. Only after this, Zarine wrote this letter. In response to Zarine's letter, the Sports Minister said, "I will definitely ask the Boxing Federation to take a decision keeping in mind the best interests of the country, sports and sportspersons."
The minister, however, should not be involved in the selection of sportspersons by sports associations as the sports federations are autonomous as per the Olympic Charter. Mary Kom had already made it clear that she would go according to the BFI's decision. The BFI had earlier said that only boxers who won gold and silver medals at the World Championships would be directly selected for the Olympic qualifiers. Let us tell you that star shooter Abhinav Bindra has also supported Zarine on this issue.
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