MC Mary Kom : A marketable athlete with no taker
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 05, 2012 -

File Photo of Five times World Champion boxer MC Mary Kom who is the only women boxer to represent India in the ensuing London Olympics :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

Timing, it is said, is the most important thing, and it could not have been more perfect for the 29-year old Manipur woman pugilist MC Mary Kom, who is keeping her eyes firmly set on punching her way to raining gold at London Olympics, 2012.

It is no mean achievement for the daughter of a poor farmer from Kangathei in Churachandpur district to get a coveted place on a list of 50 most remarkable athletes in the world.

She has been rated as the 38th most marketable athletes in the world by SportsPro, a monthly British magazine that reports on the business and financial aspects of sport.

Mary Kom is the only athlete from the country to feature in the list other than cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is ranked at 16.

This is not all; MC Mary Kom has also got the rare distinction of featuring on the cover page of July/August issue of Intelligent Life, a bi-monthly lifestyle and culture magazine from the team of The Economist.

All these recognitions have come one after another just ahead of her dream chase at London Olympics, 2012, which is scheduled to start from July 27 and continue till August 12.

With the women's boxing making its debut in London Olympics this time, it is definitely going to be one of the major talking points during the 17-day long biggest sporting extravaganza and it could spark a wave of sponsor interest in female fights such as Indian hopeful MC Mary Kom, who is not just the lone Indian female boxer to have qualified for the Olympics, but also one among the eight who make the cut.

Now, the question is, why should we need British magazines like SportsPro and Intelligent Life to make the Indian people to sit up and take notice of the potential of MC Mary Kom, who already has five world championships title under her belt?

Why can't Indian corporate houses see beyond cricket and back women boxers like Mary Kom, who despite numerous odds, have come so far?

When 'Magnificent Mary' said, "Despite winning the World Championships five times, I am not popular enough. A medal at the Olympics will bring more sponsors for me", what do the Indian corporate houses feel?

It's funny that in her Olympic journey, a five-time world champion like Mary Kom is being supported by a not-for-profit initiative called Olympic Gold Quest, supposedly designed to support India's Olympians to greater success.

This is indeed a sad commentary on the attitude of the corporate houses in India towards sportsmen and women in disciplines other than cricket.

This is also one precise reason why Olympic golds have been thin on the ground for India despite its huge population.

In fact, Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra was the country's first individual gold medallist in the last edition of Olympics at Beijing.

Anyway, by including MC Mary Kom as one of the world's most marketable athletes, the British magazine, SportsPro has proven the fact that it's time for the country to think beyond cricket, and Mary Kom, a mother of twin sons, has been given more reasons to punch gold at London Olympics.