From Mary kaun? to Mary Kom!
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 25: Mery Kom Hmangte of India (Blue) punches Pamela Paoloa Benavidez of Argentina during their quaterfinal, 48kg-51kg bout at ExCel on November 25, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)
The rise of champion fighter Mary Kom in the field of boxing is indeed a fairytale . Mary, who was born in a poor farmer’s family in Manipur in her younger days, helped her parents in the fields and with other domestic work , just like any other girl from her village would do. At one point, Mary, who was in high school then, realised that books and studies were not her cup of tea. Initially she was drawn towards athletics . It was when fellow Manipuri Dinko Singh won a medal at the Bangkok Asian Games in 2000, that Mary was inspired to take up boxing. In a sport where the presence of women is minimal and not encouraged by the society, Mary had to actually hide her passion from her family during the early days. It was actually through a photograph of her’s that appeared in a local news paper ,that her father got to know that his daughter was into boxing.
To pursue her dream of becoming a world class boxer, Mary joined Sports Authority of India in Manipur, where she underwent intensive training under coach and mentor, Ibomcha Singh. Impressed with her talent and determination, the Manipur State coaches decided to bring Mary under their guidance and trained her hard in the finer aspects of the game. Mary was moulded into world class material. She began competing at the international level at the age of 18, only a year after she started boxing.
At one point in time, Mary’s career was marred by illness. But being the fighter that she was, she made a come-back after two years. She won a silver medal at the 2008 Asian women’s boxing championship in India and a gold medal at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship in China, followed by a gold medal at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam. In the year 2010 Mary won her fifth consecutive World women’s boxing title at Bridgestone.
Had Women’s boxing been included in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, Mary would have been a household name even before the London Olympics. However, she was given the honour of carrying the queen’s baton along with Vijender Singh. From the simple village girl, to an award winning sportswoman ( Arjuna Award, Khel Ratna Award , Padma Shree and many more ) who established MC Mary Kom Boxing Academy in the district of West Imphal, Mary kom has come a long way.
India is proud of this elite sportswoman who has risen from just being a face in the crowd to a medal winner at the Olympics by way of sheer hard work. She is an inspiration for the millions of female athletes in India and the world over, who dream of making it big one day. A gold at the olympics will surely be the icing on the cake. GO! MARY ! GO !