Abhinav Bindra on Saturday took to Twitter to hail Mary Kom after her win over Nikhat Zareen in the 51kg final of the women's trials, saying that the boxer is 'a great champion'.
"The great thing about sports is you constantly have to prove yourself. You constantly have to go out there and do it, day in and day out. Well done Mary Kom. You are a great champion, good luck in Tokyo!": Bindra wrote on Twitter.
Mary Kom with the win over Nikhat booked her place in the Indian team that will travel to China in February next year for the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualifiers.
The great thing about sports is you constantly have to prove yourself. You constantly have to go out there and do it, day in and day out. Well done @MangteC . You are a great champion , good luck in Tokyo ! — Abhinav Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) December 28, 2019
Bindra had earlier backed Nikhat's demand for the trial bout against Mary, writing on Twitter that "an athlete's life is an offering of proof".
"While I have all the respect for Mary Kom, fact is an athlete's life is an offering of proof. Proof that we can be as good as yesterday. Better than yesterday. Better than tomorrows man /woman. In sport, yesterday NEVER counts," Bindra had written on Twitter.
Reacting to the comment, Mary Kom had, at the time, said that it "not his business".
"Bindra is an Olympic gold medallist but I too have multiple golds at World Championships. This is not his business, to involve in boxing, to interfere. I don't talk about shooting, so it is better for him to stay quiet on boxing. He doesn't know the exact rules of boxing," Mary Kom had said.
She added, "He doesn't know anything about boxing. It is better to be quiet. I don't think Abhinav would also go for trials before every shooting tournament."
