First Among Equals

By Piyali Dasgupta

Mary Kom

For 27-year-old Mangte Chuneijang Mary Kom, a mother of two from Manipur, setting records is routine.

For starters, she’s a four-time world champion, an Arjuna awardee and a Padma Shri awardee.

And now, she’s headed to Kazakhstan to take part in the Asian Championship. But, before she left, Mary met us in Delhi to offer us a ringside view of her life.

Sitting comfortably in Lodhi Gardens and admiring the monument behind her with childish glee, Mary told us, “Trust me, I haven’t seen a monument so closely. I feel like a kid again. I must have visited Delhi so many times, but have never been in and around the city so much. This once, I’ve taken out time especially to do touristy things.”

But even then, Mary had little time on her hands, as she was heading to Kazakhstan. Talking about her preparation, she said, “I’ve been with the game for 10 years. Even after winning four times, I still feel that I have to learn a lot.”

She also feels that the Indian women’s boxing team needs a coach now. She explains, “We’ve been asking for a foreign coach from the Indian Boxing Federation, but no one has been appointed so far. It’ll be great to train under a foreign coach because it’ll help us improve our game and perform better in future.”

Mary is also excited about being selected, along with 24 athletes globally, for BBC’s forthcoming project titled World Olympic Dreams. She adds, “It feels great that I’ve been chosen for this.

The BBC team had approached my husband last month. They’ll be visiting Manipur in June for the documentary’s shoot. I’m very excited. This will be a great milestone in my career as they will profile me along with great athletes like Sir Matthew Pinsent, four-time Olympic gold medallist, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, Afghani Taekwondo fighter Rohullah Nikpai, British NBA star Luol Deng and many more.

It’s a specially being made for the 2012 London Olympics. It’s been my dream to win an Olympic medal and I’m working hard. Aur koshish karungi ki is bar main Olympic mein medal jeetkar wapas aaon.”

But, she also knows fame is fickle. She says, “When I pay in the boxing ring people recognise me and shout my name. But, the moment I’m out of the ring, logon ko pata nahi main kaun hoon. Whenever I travel abroad, people don’t recognize me as an Indian. A sportsman once told me, ‘Mary, you don’t look like an Indian’. And I promptly replied, ‘But, my heart us full of India’.”

At this point, it’s the Commonwealth Games that is important for every Indian sportsperson. But Mary is disappointed because Indian women boxers will not be able to compete in the sporting extravaganza.

She says, “I feel very sad that the CWG will not give a chance to Indian women boxers to compete. The CWG claims that the event will include a lot of woman sports person. So, where do we stand?” she questions, as she signs off.