Women's World Boxing Championships: Won't be easy for Mary Kom to win sixth gold, says India's high-performance director

New Delhi: Indian boxing’s High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva expects at least three medals from the upcoming Women’s World Championships and anything more than that according to him will be a “bonus”. Five-time world champion and London Olympics bronze medallist MC Mary Kom will spearhead India’s 10-member contingent in the World Championships and there is immense pressure on the celebrated Manipuri boxer to add to her tally. [caption id=“attachment_4718091” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of MC Mary Kom. AFP[/caption] But Nieva said it won’t be easy for Mary Kom to pocket her sixth World Championships gold, although she remains India’s best bet. “Everybody expects Mary Kom to win a gold medal but it won’t be easy. She has strong competition, she needs to perform as nobody will give her the gold free. “Everybody knows her. She has some pressure but she has done this before and we are confident she can do it again,” he said. Besides Mary Kom, Nieva expects good performances from some young Indian boxers in the tournament. “Lovelina Borgohain, (69kg), Manisha (54kg) looked pretty impressive in training sessions but a competition bout is totally different. It is their first World Championship and they are relatively inexperienced but they are good boxers,” he said. Argentina-born Swede Nieva said his expectation also includes a gold and anything less than that will be a below-par result for the hosts. “I expect at least three medals, including a gold. We will not be satisfied if we can’t achieve that. Everything more than 3 medals will be a bonus and great result for us,” Nieva said ahead of the elite International Boxing Association (AIBA) event which will be held in New Delhi for the first time from 15 to 24 November.