The life of Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom, known commonly as Mary Kom, has been no less than a fairytale. India's iconic boxer wearing the red or blue attire has broken gender stereotypes and battled poverty to reach where she is now. Her journey to stardom are the stuff dreams are made of.
The five-time World champion's killer instinct, that every opponent is beatable, is like a hunter who never returns without taking something back,
Ever since she became the state champion in early 2000, MC has never looked back. Not just training, trials and tournaments, her diary is booked with endorsements, guest appearances and speaking assignments.
While Mary Kom stumbled to another defeat yesterday, her chances of representing India in the Olympic Games are now done and dusted. As humbling this apparently seems to be, there is a much much deeper reason for her failure here.
In an interesting career graph of the iconic boxer, let's take a look at the highs and lows of Mary Kom’s incredible international career spanning almost 16 years.
2001 marked the arrival of Mary Kom on the big stage
Like most Olympic athletes, Mary Kom's success is impressive and it gets even better when you consider how we fare at the Olympic Games.
2012 was the first year when female boxing had been introduced at the Olympics and she did not disappoint the fans. The third Indian woman to win a medal at the biggest sporting gala in the world. Possibly her proudest moment and ours too.
The Manipuri pugilist has ruled the international women's boxing for the past 10 years, winning the World Boxing championship five times.
Forget all that.
Mary Kom was only 18 when she won a silver medal in her international debut at the 2001 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship in the United States. She has won tournaments after tournaments, taking the number of international gold medals to 15 from various world boxing competitions.
Her success looks even better when we consider how she was brought up in the conflict-torn state of Manipur.
Kom is not just a women, she is a mother of three who can conquer the world.
In 2015, the Padma Bhushan awardee became the first amateur to surpass several professional athletes in India in earnings, endorsements, and awards. From the Deputy Superintendent of Police, she has been promoted to the Superintendent of Police (Sports).
What has differentiated the 33-year-old from others is her dedication.
Stats don't lie: The fall of the champion
Nothing lasts forever.
After the birth of her third child and seven-month break, Mary Kom had to fight for a place in the three-member women's boxing squad for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She lost out to Pinky Jhangra and failed to qualify for her maiden Commonwealth Games. Pinky along with Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani represented India in Glasgow.
Laid low by a shoulder injury during her medal-winning bout at the Asian Games in Incheon, she missed the entire 2015 season.
On a comeback trail in the last month of December, she lost in the semi-final at the AIBA's Olympic test event at Rio de Janeiro and failed to book a berth. Determined, the mother of three was still confident of booking an August date at the grandest event of the world, the next year.
She had another chance of booking a berth at the AIBA Asian and Oceanic Olympic boxing qualification in Qian’an, China two months back. But the former World Champion suffered a semi-final exit yet again against Chinese boxer Ren Cancan and lost the opportunity thrown to her.
In the last qualification event at Astana, the diminutive Manipuri threw herself aggressively but lost to Germany's Azize Nimani in her second round bout at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.
That was the final nail in the coffin for Mary Kom as her hopes and dreams went up in smoke.
Although, she has a small mathematical chance of making it to Rio depending on the performance of the other players in her category, seeing India's boxing champion this year at Rio is very well over.
Mary Kom is now a brand, not just a boxer
After years of struggle, Mary Kom is finally getting her due. We all are happy with that. And why not?
Not long back, she had to run from pillar to pillar to beg for sponsorships, but now the iconic woman boxer spearheads numerous campaigns and lends her support to social awareness.
She mothers three children, supports animal rights and is associated with PETA India, to put an end to cruelty towards animals.
On top of that, Mary Kom has been appointed as one of the eight brand ambassadors for the World Championships by the International Boxing Association (AIBA).
Corporates are willing to rope 'Magnificent Mary' and support her. Thanks to the Priyanka Chopra-starrer on the World Champion's biopic, she has become a household name across India.
After all, money is a subsidiary of success.
Decline of development in the Boxing Federation of India
In London, we had eight boxers in the entire Indian contingent. This year we have one.
There was a plan in place then. There was a federation in place. There were established role models. Things could only get better.
But how things turned around from there is unimaginable. No one anticipated such a small boxing contingent for Rio.
The International Boxing Association has banned the boxing federation of our country in 2012 due to lack of transparency within the election process alleging possible manipulation.
This scenario has been a perennial issue since then and although there are talks of the formation of a new federation with every passing day, there has been no improvement in this case.
The bigger concern now is Shiva Thapa, the first and only boxer who has qualified for Rio Olympics 2016 has to take the ring under the AIBA flag.
This is yet another glaring example of India's appalling indifference towards boxing. The state of the infrastructural problem has been a problem with everyone including the London bronze medalist.
One more proof that the road has been challenging for Mary Kom since the London Games.
The future of Indian boxing is not dark
There is indeed lack of motivation and competition but the likes of Nikhat Zareen, Pinki Jangra, and Pooja Rani can outbox any opponent on their day if guided in the right direction.
While the ace pugilist has already made up her mind to retire from this sport after this year, they are all medal prospects at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The question now is, how will Indian boxing, already down, recover from this blow?
It is said one can always find a positive in any disaster. We can find one here too. Mary Kom has squandered all her three chances and because she has squandered, there should not be any regrets.
Right now, it doesn’t seem like the situation will get any better. But let's hope, it gets soon.
Mary Kom is an inspiration to millions worldwide. She has motivated herself and us through hard work and never-say-die attitude.
The next Olympics will be held in Tokyo in 2020. The Manipuri lass will be 37 then. So, over the coming days or even weeks, if she decides to hang up her gloves, don't be surprised by her decision.
To be honest, it is high time she takes a call.
