'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The real story
It was the month of March in the year 1983, a child was born in the Churachandpur district of Manipur. Nobody would have ever thought in their wildest dreams that this kid would go on and become a legend. Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom had to defy all odds to live her dreams. Hailing from the North-eastern state of India Mary’s parents worked in Jhum fields. Hold on, this is not another Priyanka Chopra version of Mary Kom.
This is something which we as Indians should be enlightened upon. India is a land of diverse cultures, languages and what not. Talk about cricket and a million people will raise their hand to give their expert opinion. Talk about sporting legends and the first name which we as Indian will throw up would be Sachin Tendulkar. He is truly a legend, isn’t he? But there are other people too. These people have silently defied all obstacles and produced a maverick performance in their respective fields. They are no less than Sachin Tendulkar.
5-time World Champion should be given due credit
Compare the sporting infrastructure of Cricket and other sports in our country and tears would roll down our eyes to see the pathetic state of the other sporting disciplines. Now coming to Mary Kom, respect would be a small word for her. To win the World Championship five times is not a joke, oh yes, do you know what a world champion literally means? When one goes through the entire life and times of Mary, inspiration would be the utmost feeling one can extract.
Mary who is known as “Magnificent Mary” has continued the sport even after giving births to twins. To go under the knife for a caesarian and then winning the world championship a couple of times are no less than Sachin’s achievements in Cricket.
Where were we when Mary was quietly pursuing her dreams and bringing laurels to our country? I will tell you, we were either delighted to see the Indian cricket team handing a clean sweep to other teams on Indian strips or maybe in despair to see the same cricket team getting thrashed overseas. In between all of these Mary was busy connecting all the dots of her dream.
And do we know that the Mary had to switch to a higher weight category for Olympics? We don’t and how would we know, that’s because we do not know what a weight category actually means. To gain weight for a higher weight category in such a short span of time and then winning the bronze in the Olympics is indeed a Herculean task.
Cricket is not the only sport played in India. There are other sports and legends in those sports too. It is just that we have been blindfolded and have limited ourselves just because Cricket possesses that glam factor. Cricket has that IPL which no other sport in India has. Of Course we can boast of the ISL and the Pro Kabaddi league.
All that we need to do is just be aware and support the other Tendulkar’s belonging to different genres.
