NEW DELHI: According to coach Blas Iglesias Fernandez, two-time world
boxing
champion
Nikhat Zareen
is prepared to emerge out of MC
Mary Kom
's shadow and win a medal in the Olympics in Paris.
The six-time world champion MC Mary Kom has embodied women's boxing in India, and a 2014 Bollywood film was inspired by her remarkable career.
She announced her retirement earlier this year and cemented her legacy at the 2012 London Olympics by winning the bronze in flyweight.
In the 50kg competition, Zareen will compete for the first time at the Olympics in Paris, and Fernandez anticipates that the 27-year-old will come home with a medal around her neck.
"This is Nikhat's time to prove herself," the Cuban said in a
Sports Authority of India
(SAI) media release on Tuesday.
"It's true that she had lived in the shadows of Mary Kom but now it's her chance to prove herself and make India proud."
As the only foreigner to win India's top coaching honor for boxers, Fernandez has coached several of the country's best boxers, including Mary Kom, since 1990.
The 68-year-old, who is currently India's high-performance coach, was especially impressed by Zareen's ring awareness.
"I love the boxing (style) of Nikhat. She is very intelligent. She has good ring tactics," he said.
India could expect a second boxing medal in the women's event if
Lovlina Borgohain
, who won the welterweight bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, could find her "killer instinct", Fernandez said.
"Lovlina has to show more killer instinct," he said of the boxer, who had to move from 69kg to 75kg after the Olympic categories were revised.
"I have seen some of her bouts and I think she lost them because Lovlina was not aggressive and proactive enough.
"If she can box to her potential, she can finish among the medals in Paris."
India has secured four spots for women in the Paris women's quota.
Fernandez was optimistic that the male boxers would perform well in the international qualifiers in Bangkok, where India might be able to secure nine berths in Paris.
"I reckon
Nishant
Dev and
Amit Panghal
can bag Paris quotas. They both have the potential to do this," he said.
"Men's boxing is very tough and should not be compared with women's where the competition is relatively easier."
(With Reuters inputs)
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