Jaismine will compete in the 57kg category of the Olympic qualifiers after Parveen’s suspension

Jaismine Lamboria will compete in the second Olympic boxing qualifiers in Thailand from May 24 after India was forced to waive the women’s 57kg category quota for the Paris Games due to holder Parveen Hooda’s international suspension for three failures of whereabouts in 12 months. Hooda was suspended for 22 months by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Friday.

“Jaismine will compete in the second Olympic qualifiers in Thailand in the 57kg category following the suspension of quota winner Parveen by the International Testing Agency (ITA) due to location faults. The Olympic qualifiers begin on May 24,” the Boxing Federation of India said on Saturday.

Jaismine competed in the 60kg category in the first qualifiers and at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. She won the 60 kg bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

In an unprecedented embarrassment for Indian boxing, the country was forced to waive the women’s Olympic quota in the 57kg category on Friday due to Parveen’s suspension.

The 2022 world championship bronze medalist boxer, who achieved Olympic quota with bronze at last year’s Asian Games, did not record her whereabouts in the period from April 2022 to March 2023, in accordance with WADA rules.

“Parveen Hooda has been suspended for 22 months by the International Testing Agency (ITA) for Localization Failures,” the BFI said in a press release on Friday.

However, after discussion with the agencies concerned, Parveen’s sanction was delayed and she is now expected to serve a 14-month suspension from Friday.

In boxing, the quota is assigned to the country and not the athlete.

Three Indian boxers – Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti (54kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) – have booked Olympic quotas for India so far.