Nameless vests: Mary Kom says deliberate ploy to disturb

Mary Kom on Thursday and Lovlina Borgohain on Friday fought in uniforms that neither featured their names nor identified their countries at the back of their vests. A conversation with Indian boxing’s high performance director Santiago Nieva and a look at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) rules threw some light.

“If it was just Kom, there would not have been a problem. Just Mangte on the back would have been fine too. Same with Lovlina, she needed to have Borgohain on the back,” Nieva explained.

The IOC rules on uniforms state that “the athlete’s name (Preferred Family Name) may be included on the back of the vest” and the national flag or National Olympic Committee emblem is “permitted only in one area per vest, shorts and skirt.”