Making of a champion
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 21, 2010 -

MC Mary Kom-the name rings a bell Now (note the stress on the word Now) and why not ? Winning the women's world boxing championship five times in a row is a record that will stand the test of time as well as test the talents, dedication, discipline and conviction of the younger generations, who will come to the fore, after Mary Kom has hung up her gloves.

In the world of sports, India has always ended up as the favourite whipping boys, except for some discipline like chess (V Anand), women's badminton (Saina Nehwal), snooker, billiards, (Geet Sethi, Michael Ferreira) and yes cricket !

Hockey is now a game confined to the dustbin of sexual misconduct and internal bickerings and this sport today is a far cry from the earlier days, when the Indian men's team was synonymous with the gold medal at every Olympics and produced players like Dhyan Chand, much like Pele in football or Don Bradman in cricket !

That the first individual gold medal in any discipline, for India, came from shooter Abhinav Bindra in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, says something about a country with over a billion population !

Why a gold, even a silver or a bronze at the Olympics is something to be glossed over and one just has to recall the reception accorded to Karnam Malleswari when she won a bronze in weight lifting at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. In other words, India just refused to accept the fact that beyond the bronze, there is the silver and gold medal that can be won !

It is this mentality that needs to be overcome by any aspiring sportspersons and Mary Kom happens to be one of those rare Indians, who is not ready to settle for anything less than a gold.

Mary Kom soaks in the adulations before addressing the media

To some, who love and are obsessed with melodramas, the story of Mary Kom may sound like a romantic fairy tale, of a village girl, making it big on the international stage, but unfortunately life is not as simple as is made out to be in melodramas. MC Mary Kom first burst into the international scene when she won the silver medal in the 2001 Women's World Boxing Championship in Pennsylvania, USA.

The gold medals came after this non-stop for five consecutive times, but recognition did not come to her as smoothly as the gold medals and other international titles under her belt.

We at the media, distinctly remember a puny looking girl, addressing reporters about how indifferent the Government of Manipur was towards her plight, though she was rightly a world champion, in other words, the best in the world in her category, while lesser mortals or sportspersons had landed plum Government jobs and recognition.

The presence of quite a number of cynics at that point of time was distinctly felt and there was this misguided or unfounded idea that she was more of a publicity hound than a real champion.

The Sangai Express was one of the first newspapers in recognising her achievements and we still remember how the world champion walked into our office to meet one of our reporters without any air or superficiality. This down to earth approach to life is perhaps one of the major reasons for making her the champion that she is today.

We still remember the early part of this century, when her rise somewhat co-incided with the rise of tennis player, Sania Mirza, the first Indian woman to break into the top 50 ATP list.

As past experiences have taught us, it did not surprise us at all when the media in mainland India went ga-ga over Mirza, while quietly sidelining Mary Kom, who was already a world champion by then.

There was this argument put forward by some, that since tennis is a more popular game and hence more competitive, the attention of the media had to be drawn towards Sania Mirza. Yes tennis is a global sport and it may have a larger audience, but how does one compare the competitiveness of the players between these two entirely different disciplines ?

Since football is considered the most popular game in the world, can we rightfully say that the competitive spirit of a Lionel Messi is sharper than a chess champion like V Anand ?

Simple logic tells us that such line of thoughts or arguments have no credibility at all. In fact it sounds ludicrous and definitely no sportsperson worth his or her value in the game would find this amusing. It is an irony and a bitter one at that, that while the country with a 1 billion population was/is desperately looking for a world beater in sports, a village girl, who went on to bag the most prestigious title in her discipline, had to run from pillar to post to get what is due to her.

The stuff that makes Mary Kom a world champion has been demonstrated not only within the boxing ring but also in her endeavour not to take things lying down, but to take up the cudgels against a system, which seemed to be working against the interest of sportspersons.

It was madness, but there was a method to this madness, giving room for many interpretations, some right and some wrong. Delhi decided to confer her the highest sports award in the country, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2009, though many rightfully shares her thought that it came a year or two too late.

On the other hand, we may also question what the State Government has done, apart from appointing in the Police Department. For example, what tangible help has the State Government extended to the boxing academy set up by her ?

Mary Kom has done Manipur proud but has the State reciprocated likewise ? In her endeavour both on and off the ring, Mary Kom has demonstrated that one needs to be a world champion not only inside the boxing ring but outside as well !

And as she said in a media conference in Delhi on September 21 evening, "I am the living example of 'nothing is impossible."' It is not for nothing that she is today hailed as Magnificent Mary.

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