Mesmerizing Mary

 Bhavan Meitei

 Mary Kom’s success proves that hard work and dedication always bear fruit and it is a ‘lesson’ to the government that timely intervention and providing proper facilities to sportspersons can produce many more Marys!  

     Winning a medal at the Olympics is every sportsperson’s dream. Any athlete would readily loose a hand to win a medal in the Olympic Games! The achievement assumes double significance if the achiever is a woman and if she is a mother. Against this backdrop, Mary Kom, the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in Boxing deserves all the accolades that come her way.

      Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom aka MC Mary Kom was born to Mangte Tonpa Kom and Mangte Akham Kom, in a village called Kangathei, in Churachandpur district of Manipur. She was brought up in a poor family who earned their livelihood by working in jhum fields. It is hard to imagine that Mary Kom would one day rise and become a World Boxing Champion and an Olympic medallist!

      Being the eldest, Mary helped her parents in the fields, cutting wood, making charcoal and fishing. She also spent time looking after her younger sisters and a brother. Although she had a keen interest in athletics from childhood, it was the success of Dingko Singh, who won  a Gold medal in the Bangkok Asian Games-1998, and the demonstration of women boxers at the 5th National Games (Manipur) which inspired her to become a boxer in 2000.

      Mary initially tried to hide her interest in boxing from her family, since it was not considered a suitable sport for a woman. In the initial stage of her career, she found little support from her family or community when she broke into a sport that Indian women have largely shunned. However, after her victory in the Manipur state women's boxing championship in 2000, her career became public. Now, she is a five-times World Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. Also, she is the only Indian woman boxer to win a medal in Olympic. Recognising her achievements, the Government of India has conferred many awards on her including Arjuna Award (2003), Padma Shree (2006), the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (2007) and a special award from AIBA.

      To pursue her dream of becoming a world class boxer, she joined Sports Authority of India (SAI), Khuman Lampak, and Imphal and underwent an intensive training from coach and mentor, Ibomcha Singh, a Dronacharya Awardee, who trained at least 38 international medallists in boxing including two Arjuna awardees, two Olympians, two world champions and one world military games champion. Seeing Mary’s potential and determination, Manipur State coaches Narjit Singh and Kishan Singh decided to take her under their wings. Though Mary Kom, a five-time world champion, settled for a bronze medal in the London Olympics, she won the heart of all the sport lovers in India. She went down to Nicola Adams of Britain in the semi-final match of the 51 kg category.

         Mary’s quest for an Olympic gold began in August 2009, when the International Olympic Committee announced that women’s boxing would be added at the 2012 London Olympics. Mary has been fighting in the 46-kilogram and 48-kilogram weight slots for most of her boxing career but she trained hard to gain weight to qualify for the 51-kilogram category, the lowest of the three weight classes established for female boxers at the London Olympics.

On the personal note, she is married to K Onler Kom, from her community who met her in Delhi in 2005 and is blessed with twin sons, Rechungvar and Khupneivar. Mary’s greatest test was getting back into the ring after the birth of her twin boys in August 2007. However, she successfully proved her worth and the result is for all to see!

 Coming back to Manipur, Mary’s state of origin, the less said the better. In Manipur, people are trapped between the proverbial rock and a hard place. On one end of the spectrum are the militants who are allegedly fighting for independence, and on the other end are armed forces- both State and Central- who are leaving no stones unturned in taking out their anger on the people for casualities they have suffered in the hands of their armed counterparts. Adding fuel to the fire is the apathy of the State government which is being slowly being eaten away by corruption and negligence. Death is more common than anything. It seems that people are alive not because they didn’t do anything wrong, but because they are lucky.

The state has more than thirty insurgent factions who are fighting over territory and demanding separate country. Adding fuel to the fire are the issues of Sadar Hills area and Greater Nagaland which often lead to blockage of the two national highways, the life-line of the State. Almost every day, there are reports of bomb blasts, kidnappings and killings in this strife-torn state.

Despite these disturbances, Manipur supplies a number of top athletes to the country. Many players from Manipur have won medals in Common Wealth Games (CWG) and other international tournaments. But the truth for such dedication in sports lies in the fact that people try their best in sports to get, at least, a government job, on sports quota!  

Historically, women have played a great part in social reformation in the entire North-East States and the same is true for Manipur as well. Infact, one reason why women like Mary Kom have been successful in their respective arenas is because of this inherent fighting spirit found in women from this region. These women push the limits and break male stereotypes to bring the necessary changes in the society and Mary could be seen as a part of this larger movement. To mention the name of Irom Chanu Sharmila who is fighting for another cause may not be out of place.

It certainly seems that Mary’s success in the boxing arena has woken up the government from its slumber. The ‘Mary Effect’ is ostensible in the recent announcement by Hon’ble Union Sports Minister Shri Ajay Maken’s to set up a sports training academy for North-East region at Khuman Lampak in Imphal. A special mention should be made of the training academy set up by Mary Kom at her personal level to train budding boxing aspirants(without charging anything )in Imphal. This is a commendable step on her part as this could produce potential boxers for the country. Mary has also expressed her desire to set up a branch of her training academy in the neighbouring state of Assam in the immediate future.

       Mary is not the first person to win a medal in the Olympics for the country and will certainly not be the last. However, the lesson to be drawn from her success is that hard work and dedication coupled with determination and proper support, always bear fruit no matter how hard the road to success might be. Her success also proves that geographical or racial boundary is no hurdle to achieve success. For those who are determined to be victorious, there will be a thousand hands to lend their support when the need arises!