Mary Kom- The Magnificent Mary
Boxing was always considered a sport for men but -"Magnificent Mary" - Mary Kom has changed this perception.
Name- Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom
Born on 1 March 1983 (this was the time when armed insurgency was at its peak in Manipur)
Place - Village Kangathei, Churachandpur district, Manipur
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| Her place of birth on the map of Indi |
Father’s Name- Mangte Tonpa Kom
Mother’s name- Mangte Akham Kom
Her parents were tenant farmers (those who do not own land but work as farmers on others land). Mary Kom grew up helping her parents in the fields.
She has one younger brother and sister.
She studied in her village school till class 8 and then attended school in state capital of Imphal.
Though she could not pass class 10, she had a keen interest in sports and athletics.
Dingko Singh, a Sailor with The Indian Navy and a native of Manipur won a Gold Medal in Bangkok Asian Games in the year 1998.
Mary Kom was inspired by Dingko Singh and decided to switch from athletics to boxing.
Her initial training in boxing was under a coach and later she was trained at Sports Academy in Imphal.
In the initial years her father was not happy with her decision to be a boxer. He thought boxing could hurt her face which would make it difficult to find a groom for her. After a few years he supported her daughter’s dream.
Year 2000- Mary Kom won the Manipur state women’s boxing championship.
Year 2001- World Boxing championship (World amateur boxing championship) was introduced for Women. Till this time the championship was only for men.Year 2003- Mary Kom won Asian Women’s Boxing Championship.
Year 2005- Mary Kom won Women’s World Boxing championship again.
Year 2005- Mary Kom married Onkholer who was the president of the North East students body and had helped Mary Kom in her days of struggle.
This was not the end of story. History was in the making.
Year 2006- Mary Kom won Women’s World Boxing championship...again.
Year 2007 – Mary Kom gave birth to twin sons.
This was again not the end of story. History was still in the making.
This was just a recess.
Year 2008- Mary Kom won Women’s World Boxing championship....once again.
Year 2010- Mary Kom won Women’s World Boxing championship....yet again.
Year 2012- Mary Kom won Olympics - Bronze
Year 2013- She gave birth to her third child.
Once again this was not the end of story. History was still in the making.
Year 2018- Mary Kom won Women’s World Boxing championship...again.
Mary Kom is the only boxer in the world (male
& female) to have won medals in World Boxing championship eight times ! Six of these are gold medals, the most
for any boxer at the World Championships.
This list of honours that Mary Kom has earned for herself is not exhaustive.
But this list does exhibits Mary Kom’s commitment to boxing.
It would not be wrong if I say, there are many more medals and championships that have been ‘honoured’ because Magnificient Mary participated and won them.
Today at the age of 38 years when most of us start planning our retirement, it is our Indian super woman, super mom Mary Kom, Padma Shri (2006), Padma Bhushan (2013), Padma Vibhushan (2020) who is aiming and preparing for a Gold Medal at Tokyo Olympics.
She is determined to hear the Indian National Anthem during the medal distribution ceremony.
Today she is a member of the Rajya Sabha.
"God chose me for sports I think" says Mary Kom
God may have chosen her for sports but it is she who put in the efforts and kept her morale high during failures.
My dear Young & Little Indians,
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