Olympic medallist MC Mary Kom, L Sarita Devi and Aruna Mishra, among others, booked their place in the final round of the South Asian Games qualifiers here today.
Kom overcame a spirited Nikhit Zareen, while Sarita Devi passed the Meena Kumari test.
Meanwhile, Mishra emerged winner in a bout which had to be decided on the basis of two rounds after power failure in the NEHU, SAI Special Area Games venue disrupted the game.
Others who made the cut are Sarjubala Devi, Soniya and Pooja Rani.
Earlier, the famed MC Mary Kom was forced to come out of her comfort zone by the versatile Nikhit Zareen, who started on an impressive note.
By the second round Mary was back to her own way.
The technique of stepping back, waiting for her opponent to make the move that Mary Kom used to perfection in the last two days, was again seen on play and it did work in her favour in the second round.
The third round started on a rather aggressive note with both boxers trading a jab each but by the end of two minutes, Mary managed to gain upper hand over her young rival.
Combining her hooks and jabs, the Asian Games gold medallist tamed her spirited opponent in the fourth round to seal the deal in her favour.
Sarita, too, had to dig deep to overcome Meena Kumari in the light weight category bout. Usually agile and aggressive from the word go, the five-time Asian champion, Sarita Devi decided to play a waiting game in the first two rounds. The third round revealed a glimpse of the real Sarita who launched a flurry of punches on her opponent, especially rattling her with a couple right hooks.
The AIP boxer eventually made the cut.
"It is a strong team with proven performers and even
though the competition is going to be immense, I am hopeful of good results," said Sandhu.
Their resolve notwithstanding, an undeniable reality of Indian boxing is the shoddy state of its administration. The country has been without a national federation for almost a year now and an ad-hoc committee appointed by AIBA is running the sport.
Such is the state of affairs that even if boxers earn qualification in China, they may not get to compete in the Olympics should AIBA go ahead with its threat to crack the whip and suspend them for the failure of country's administrators.
"One can't deny that the circumstances are tough but we are doing our job. The biggest setback in all this has been the lack of exposure trips to countries like Cuba. The boxers have suffered on that front," Sandhu said.
"But I am very proud of the way they have handled themselves and we have also got good support from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in continuing the camp in Patiala," he added.
Apart from this upcoming event, Indian boxers will have one last shot at Olympic qualification in an AIBA event in June which will also be open to professional boxers from across the globe.
