'Magnificent Mary' takes to ring in women's boxing's Olympic debu

Aug 04, 2012 |

London

Tags:

Five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom (51kg) would be India's lone flagbearer and a gold medal hope when women's boxing makes its historic Olympic debut in three weight categories here on Sunday.

The 29-year-old Manipuri is the lone Indian woman boxer in fray at the mega-event after making the cut in the only qualifying tournament - the World Championships in May earlier this year.

The mother-of-two, who is also a multiple-time Asian champion, will face Poland's Karolina Michalczuk - a former bantamweight (54kg) world champion - in her pre-quarterfinal bout on Sunday at 18:30hrs (IST).

The Indian, who was made the face of International Boxing Association's campaign to get women's boxing included in Olympics, needs to win just two bouts to be assured of a medal and first up for her is Michalczuk.

Michalczuk, a 32-year-old, won a bronze medal at the World Championships this year.

"The critics and some of my well wishers still want me to prove myself after12 years in this sport and after winning five World Championships," Mary Kom has stated.

"I have won my World Championships in 46 and 48kg. These weight categories are not in Asian or Olympic Games. Boxing was introduced in Asian Games only in 2010 and there I got a bronze in 51kg."

"Before that for over a decade I was fighting in lower weight categories. Here also I am in 51kg, I have no complaints. My critics may not know but I know what I have to do," Mary said.

The boxer has been forced to train without her American coach Charles Atkinson, who has been denied access to the Athletes Village as he does not not have the International Boxing Association's 3 Star Certificate for coaches.

'Magnificent Mary', as she is called by the AIBA, will be taking the ring on Sunday with national coach Anoop Kumar by her side and her mother watching her from the stands for the first time in her career.

"I am told if I win two bouts I will be winning a medal. I am not taking things lightly. I am focused because like me, my opponents must also have her plans and strategies, let us not forget that," she has said.

If Mary Kom wins her opening bout, she will be up against Tunisia's Maroua Rahali, who has got a first-round bye.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/177740" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd></li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-7deef702f661392c4cf8933d9438fee8" value="form-7deef702f661392c4cf8933d9438fee8" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="86041778" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>