Hoping to make the Rio cut: Mary Kom at the World Women's Boxing Championship

It's literally the final chance to make the cut for Rio. Indian boxers Mary Kom, Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani are all at the World Women's Boxing Championship being held in Astana Kazakhstan, hoping to be among the 12 boxers who will qualify for the Olympics. Mary Kom, who has the distinction of winning the gold five times at this very tournament will be competing with Sweden's Juliana Soderstrom in her opening bout in the 51kg category. Fellow teammate Devi will square off  with Ala Yarshevich of Belarus in the 60 kg cateogry, while Rani will be up against Ukraine's Mariya Borusta in the 75 kg category on May 20th.

It's a tough draw, and our boxers will need to make it at least to the semi-final stage to qualify for the Olympics. All eyes are of course on London Olympics bronze-medallist and Asian Games gold-medallist, Mary Kom to book her berth, along with clinching the gold at for the sixth time.

Also read: Women’s relay team breaks 18-year-old national record

Meanwhile, in the non-Olympic categories, previous edition's silver-medallist Sarjubala Shamjetsabam (48kg), former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen (54kg), Pavitra (64kg),  Saweety (81kg), Sonia Lather (57kg), Meena Rani (69kg) and Seema Poonia (81kg) will be facing off the world’s other champions.

Feature Image Credit: sports.ndtv.com