No, am not talking about me (though if you did forget about my existence, i wouldn't blame you! am lamentably irregular nowadays. excuses? not too many...okay, enough rambling) Does the name Mangte Chungneijang Merykom ring any bells? no? okay.... Mary Kom? Does that help? still confused? I don't blame you. even wikipedia didn't help me when i was looking up this woman. now that's a first for me.
Mary Kom is minimumweight boxer. She hails from the north-eastern state of Manipur, and she recently won her FOURTH gold medal at the World Championship, held in Ningbo City, China on 29th November, 2008.
Weighing a mere 46 kgs, this fiesty champion took to boxing, inspired by Manipuri male boxer Dingko Singh, who'd then bagged an Asian Games gold. Starting off as a good athlete, she concentrated on boxing to provide financial support to her family. She quickly took to the sport.As she says, "In just two weeks, I had learnt all the basics. I guess I had God-given talent for boxing." And the medals started pouring in.
From winning the Indian boxing championship five times in a row, she announced her arrival on the international scene in style. Merykom's "international gold rush" finally began with the Second Asian Women's Championship in Hissar and continued with a win in the Third Asian Women's Championship held in Taiwan. And the gold rush only let up for two years, as she took a sabbatical to care for her newborn twins. The fourth gold medal was her way of returning to her sport, her passion.
And why am I so taken with this Arjuna Awardee? Simply because inspite of all her brilliance, she was ignored by the government for the Padma Shri award in 2009. Hurt and bitter, she's said she'll not apply for the award in future, and indeed, if awarded, refuse to accept it. And can any one blame her? Bindra wins an Olympic gold and gets Padma Shri'd straightaway. A relatively inexperienced Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh and even (gasp!shock!the horror!) Aishwarya Rai lands herself the prestigious title (no really, what has the woman done except bit roles in Hollywood and show up in Cannes wearing outlandish clothes?!) and this pint sized wonder woman, who's successfully juggling a physically demanding career, marriage and young kids doesn't even merit a dekko? How exactly does the powers-that-be draw up these merit lists?
Actually Mary, awards be damned. Who gives a shit about Government lists drawn up by people of (more than a little) suspect credibility? I hope you keep winning many more gold medals for India. We're proud of you.
At least, I know I am.
Where googling about her took me : this and this made for interesting reading. And this, was the government's knee-jerk response. Ho-hum.
22 dropped by:
Yea I read about her long time back and well forget the padma shri, she is still struggling to make ends meet in her day to day life. That is the apathy I am more worried about.
the govt claims they awarded hr some 30 lakhs after one of her victories. wonder how much of it actually reached her.
being a non-male-cricketer/demigod sportsperson is this country is such a curse!
Mary Kom's name was nominated for Khel Ratna (country's highest sports award) as well but Milkha Singh, who was heading the panel, apaprently had no idea who she was.
"What does she do?" Milkha had famously asked.
See the link.
http://sports.in.msn.com/stories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1712047
anything except cricket and bollywood is just plain trash here .. (honestly, aishwariya rai??)
Jug Suriya has got a lot of thing right here .. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Subverse/Champs_and_chamchas/rssarticleshow/4071558.cms
u know, i had covered the women's world boxing championship when it had happened in delhi in 2006, and it was amazing. not just mary kom, but all the other indian team members were pretty darn good. she won her 4th title after being out of the sport for a long time coz she was pregnant, but she still won. it's sad the govt is so unaware. the thing where they say they give these boxers money is crap.
kudos to mary and a big hmph to our sicko government .
how long will they ignore her? :(
Welocme back and yo're back with a bang! What a post! Brillantly written and something we should all know about.
My post for the day will be a link to this post of yours!
The outrage!
Hi,
Thanks!
First of all am ashamed that i was unaware of her and her achievements. You have done a great work by letting people like me know that we need to be aware of such sportsmen who sacrifice a lot to bring pride to the nation, despite knowing the fact that its a nation where the only sport that is admired and watched is cricket. India needs to give eyes and ears to sports other than cricket and that can only bring such people who stay dormant in the interiors of our nation to the main stage.
here for the first time through Mamma Mia`s blog. Seriously, the whole awards things seems to me, a big farce. Aishwarya?? Why????? Not to forget Kumar Sanu?!!! what a complete mockery of the system this is!
Darn. 46 kilos and a boxer is insane. And Ash receiving the award was probably the most retarded thing ever. I mean, why?!
Awards anywhere in the world and especially in our country are gained after intense lobbying. I am not a great fan of Shobhaa De but for once she speaks wonderfully about the reality of awards in her post http://shobhaade.blogspot.com/2009/02/from-deccan-chronicle-awards-tamasha.html
Actually Bindra received Padma Bhushan and all other sportsmen got zilch.
Harbhajan Singh got Padma Shri for god knows what?
Paisa and Neta decides these awards.
bindra is still flying high da (quite literally)... he's been plastered all over the country from reality shows to the recent aero india show, where he supposedly gets a free ride aboard one of those flying birds... life in our country can be real unfair at times ...
Words elude me. Brilliant post. Linked you over at my blog. Thanks to Mamma Mia Me A Mamma for pointing us to this heart-warming post. I hope things work out for Mary...
Here from Vidooshak's blog.
I didn't even know about her! Shows how well is the tax payer's money used by the government to sponsor cricket ... it's like there's a quota for cricket.
somda: that was a good article! and well, no comments on milkha singh.
HP: yeah, i'd read that article. agreed on all counts.
thedropper: oh, so u know better than me about the sorry state of affairs. really, how these sportspeople remain motivated to represent the country mystifies me.
i'll be truthful...: they might cave in next year. but am with mary. she shouldn't accept it. it's humiliating.
m4: thanks :)
my life's: am glad this post helped u know about her. that was the main idea, after all :)
piper: yeah. they are a farce. most of'em.
nikita: hey, that was a really great post by shobhaa de. it's a pity though, that awards aren't something to be proud about any longer.
bubbly: yeah, ASH. imagine. next year it'd be her hubby. for achievements no one can remember!
solilo: hi! yeah, i know exactly what u mean. it's just...unfair.
vinay: i have nothing against bindra. but he had it easy (i mean, he was rich to begin with) others need encouragement too! that's all i wish.
vidooshak: thank you.
IMH: cricket grabs much more eyeballs, see? dhoni is a great captain and blah blah blah, still, it's a team game that he won. whereas mary's been doing it all alone for the country. it doesn't need rocket science to see who's more deserving!
and this is exaclty the reason why blogs should always remain in existence ... i would've nevver known about her had i not read about her here. :)
Me neither, i didnt know about her either.. Nice to know there are so many Indian women making a difference. Hey the govt is biased...
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