Magnificent Mary and her London Dream –
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: May 21, 2012 -

Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom :: Manipur Olympic Dreams 2012 London :: Pix - Bullu Raj

Call it sheer luck or destiny, MC Mary Kom, the diminutive Manipuri woman pugilist has done what she is best at once again - springing back to life from near impossible.

After her shock defeat in the hands of Nicola Adams of England in the quarter-finals of the just concluded 7th edition of AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships at Qinhuangdao, China, which was also the qualifying event for the London 2012 Olympics where women boxing is to make debut, the dream of Mary to become the first woman boxer to win an Olympic gold medal was almost slipping through her boxing gloves.

However, after her quarter final nemesis Nicola Adams beat Elena Savelyena of Russia in the semi-finals, Mary's Olympic slot was confirmed.

With only two slots available for Asian women boxers in the London Olympics, out of which one was already taken by China's Ren Cancan, the fate of Mary was almost sealed.

Initially, the remaining slot was to be decided between Mary and Hye Kim of North Korea but Mary lost to Nicola Adams and Hye Kim went down to Savelyena in the quarter finals.

Consequently, the winner of the Savelyena-Nicola Adams was to decide the second slot for Asia. But Nicola defeated Savelyena and Mary got the chance to face Nicola again.

With the result of the bout going in her favour, Mary qualifies for London Olympics, and in the process becomes the only Indian woman boxer, who would be going ahead to realise her London dream.

"Olympic slot confirmed finally! I am so happy", Mary exclaimed on hearing the announcement of her qualification for London Olympics.

From her exclamation, it is understandable how anxious Mary had been all along with many of her detractors questioning her form and fitness.

Despite being a mother of twin sonny boys and remaining as a force to reckon with in her original flyweight category, Mary moved up her weight scale from 46 kgs to 51 kgs in her quest for London Olympic dream where women boxing will be making its debut in only three weight categories namely 51kg, 60kg and 75kg.

It needs lot of guts to move up the weight scale and sustains the winning streak. But Mary wants to make London Olympics her podium finish to bring down the curtain on her illustrious career.

Mary is reported to have said, "It is important that I get the Olympic medal but it is not everything. After fighting it out for over 10 years, I have got nothing to prove".

Indeed, at 29 years of age, Mary is already a legend in her own right and her unstoppable climb over the rung of success has been the source of inspiration for many around the world.

While Mary has the best wishes of all the people in her quest for Olympic gold medal, we should not forget the fact that all her greatest achievements in boxing, which is normally considered to be a male dominated sport, have come after marriage and Caesarean birth of her twins.

Marital life has never come in her way of boxing success.

All these have been made possible because of the solid rock like support of her husband, Onler Kom, who has proved that behind every successful woman there is a man too and not always the other way round.