The magnificent Mary Kom make us proud once again. Flying the Indian Flag high and making the world listened to the tune of our national anthem with due respect. Millions of Indians shed a tear of joy when she lifted the Indian flag at the international sport stadium in South Korea. What a moment! Its a golden moment to cherish and celebrated by every Indian citizens.
Born of a poor family where becoming a high ranking officer is a hanging dream. Knowing their economic status and realizing her hidden talent make her choose boxing as a career. One challenge that she faced was her own family, a family who does not consider boxing as a sport. Convincing and getting the support of the family was another far dream of her.
Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom also known as MC Mary Kom or Mary Kom, a female boxer from Manipur, India and a mother of two, clinch her fifth successive Women’s World Boxing Championship this year at Barbados, beating Romania’s Steluta Duta convincingly to take the light flyweight title.
Kom was overcome with emotion after her win of her fifth successive world title. “I would like to thank my husband and my sponsor for both giving me the will power and encouraging me. I’m really really happy and I thank God,” she said. Kom won her first title in 2001, at the age of 18 and has now taken gold medals at the past four AIBA Women’s World Championships.
International Boxing Association (AIBA) awarded her the coveted tile ‘Magnificent Mary’ at AIBA World Championships Ningbo City 2008.
India’s M C Mary Kom re-asserted her status as the world’s most successful woman boxer clinching an unprecedented fourth successive gold medal but India failed to retain the team crown at the fifth AIBA World Championships in China.
The 25-year-old out-punched Romania’s Steluta Duta 7-1 to grab India’s only gold medal at the event.
The Manipuri boxer remained away from the ring for two years to take care of her twin babies after completing a hat-trick of World Championship golds in New Delhi.
The pint-sized pugilist returned to don the gloves this year at the Asian Championships, in September, where she failed to retain her gold, settling for a silver medal.
She claimed the National title earlier this month before leaving for the World Championship.
Inspite of her worthy recognition achievements, the national papers turn their eyes away from her. Just after the anouncement of her 4th World Title, I was searching for the announcements from all national paper online. The next day I keep on searching for Mary Kom on almost 15 Natioanl papers, non of them give a front page as they usually gave to other sports persons.
World Chess Champion Viswanathan, Abhinav Bindra's Olympic Gold, Vishy Anand's 3rd World title, Twin wins in Oz: Perth & CB series, Chennai chase of 387 vs England, India qualifies for Asia Cup football, Saina becomes World Jr Champ, Vijender & Sushil's Olympic Bronze, Jeev wins Singapore Open golf, Sachin breaks Lara's record and etc. etc. earned all the front pages of our national papers. But, when MC Mary Kom won India's 4th World Champion Boxing title, no news paper dare to spare a front page.
Do we call this a biasless papers, Is MC Mary Kom's Medal not an Indian fame?? Now, Lets compare the online coverages of sport persons by the national papers:
A four-time world champion, MC Mary Kom has never been considered worthy for Khel Ratna and disturbed by the apathy, the Manipuri - arguably world's most successful woman boxer - is asking what more she needs to do to get the country's highest sporting honour.
"I have won the World Championship four times on the trot. (Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh) Dhoni gets a Khel Ratna for winning just one World Cup, I fail to understand why am I being ignored then. How can anybody expect an athlete to stay motivated if he or she is ignored like that?" Mary Kom said in an interview on Monday.
The pin weight pugilist, who clinched a fourth world title in the fifth edition of the event in Ningbo City, China, managed the feat despite being away from the ring for two years after becoming a mother.
Hurt at being ignored twice for the award, Mary Kom says even more disturbing than that is the sheer ignorance about the sport in which she competes.
"Last year, when my name was recommended by the federation, I had been shortlisted along with Dhoni but (Arjuna awards selection committee chairman) Milkha Singh struck off my name saying that he did not know which sport I competed in. That hurt me terribly," she revealed.
"I want to ask him today, how many more titles do I have to win for him and for the country to believe that I deserve the honour?" she asked.
"Don't give me the award if you think I am not worthy but please don't insult me with statements like that. It angers me. People should be encouraging but they are not and I have accepted it as part of life," she said.
The Indian Boxing Federation says it would push for her case yet again next year and is confident of becoming third time lucky.
"We will once again recommend her. Evey time, she has been sidelined but this time she should get the honour. She is special and her achievements are unparalleled," IBF General secretary Col PKM Raja said.
Mary Kom, meanwhile, is busy chalking out her plans for future and is keeping her fingers crossed for women's boxing inclusion in the 2010 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
"I am looking forward to training hard now and hope that women's boxing is included in the 2010 Asian and Commonwealth Games so that I can add to the medals that I have won. My ultimate dream is to represent the country in the Olympic Games and hopefully that dream would realise in London 2012," she said.
Attending camps and tournaments means staying away from her young family but Mary Kom says she can bank on her husband's support to make sure that her twin boys are not neglected.
"It feels terrible to leave the kids behind but my husband has made sure that I don't have to worry about my boys. They are well taken care of when I am not around. We have planned everything and it does not disturb my family life," she said.
The Manipuri said despite the hurdles she is determined to continue and refused to set a date for her retirement. "I will continue till the time I am motivated," she signed off.
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