Her reputation is simply awesome. Competitors in the 45kg category knew it even before they entered the ring. MC Marykom proved it yet again in the second Asian Boxing championship that she is a cut above the rest of her breed.Coming from Moirang Lamkhai village, near Imphal, and born into a poor family, sport came as a natural option for the 20-year-old. She was a runner until 2000 and the first time she thought of changing track struck her when she saw Laila Ali in action on TV. She immediately decided to try her hand at boxing. Her rise was rapid as within a year she attained stardom. That was when she first won a silver in the world championship in 2001 in Pennsylvania and from there her graph rose. And then in Antalya (Turkey), she won the gold. To this date, she is the only world champ in boxing. With that, money started pouring in from the federation and the sports ministry and today her family is in a much better shape. ‘‘I am yet to get about Rs 10 lakh, which was promised to me. After that happens, there won’t be any problem.’’How did this transformation come about, all within a couple of years? ‘‘God gave me talent. I sleep with the Bible under my pillow and it gives me strength and confidence. I work hard, the federation arranges for a lot of camps across the country and that helps. I know a boxer can’t go on till she is 30-35. It stops earlier than that. So I will have to do everything and continue winning till I can.’’Marykom thinks with better sports administration, the Indians can do better. She points out that the North Korean and Chinese boxers remain ahead of the Indians mainly because of the advanced training techniques they have. ‘‘It’s not like what we have. At SAI, they never call us for psychology lessons though we have asked them. We don’t have access to new scientific methods of training and though our coach (Anoop Kumar) gives his best and takes care of us, we have problems. And we will continue to fall short at the international level.’’The championship in Hisar has drawn a large attendance and a crowd of 5,000 every day is impressive by any yardstick. But it has been mostly the male (about 80 per cent) crowd. But with achievements like those of Marykom and the stances she is willing to take in what’s still a man’s domain, things might change soon. And when that happens, the sport and its protagonists will be taken more seriously.
