Something about Mary

There is no greater inspirational tale in Indian sport than that of golden flyweight boxer M.C. Mary Kom. The mother of three young children surprised her opponent with a great comeback after losing some momentum early. The way she changed gears to overpower her Kazakh opponent, Zhaina Shekerbekova, was so stunning the judges gave her a 2-0 verdict, with Mary clearly so superior in the second and third rounds after a split verdict in the first. Mary deserved to add her first ever Asian Games gold medal to five world championships and an Olympics bronze for sheer guts and spirit.

Her life has been such a paradigm of sweat, tears and medals that a movie has been made on her. The women’s boxing event began only in the last Asiad, but it could not have come at a better time for an athlete who represents the best of effort and spirit, the basic foundations of any sport. In sharp contrast came the behaviour of another woman boxer, L. Sarita Devi, who declined to keep her bronze medal on the grounds that she had been denied a fair verdict in her semi-final bout against a home boxer. The lopsided result meant Sarita couldn’t have a tilt at gold.

While prejudiced judges and questionable verdicts have always been a part of boxing history, the Indian boxer must realise that once the appeal was lost, she had no business to refuse to keep the medal that she had accepted on the podium. This is extremely poor sportsmanship, particularly when representing the country, and she must be penalised for such churlish behaviour.