Sports
'Magnificent Mary' as she is called by the International Boxing Association, was the lone Indian in the fray when women's boxing made its Olympic debut in the just-concluded London Games.
Updated : Sep 29, 2017, 09:11 AM IST
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She is over the moon after becoming the first Indian woman boxer to clinch an Olympic medal but bronze is not the colour for MC Mary Kom, who feels she could have finished higher on the podium had it not been for the "confusion" that gripped her during the semifinals.
'Magnificent Mary' as she is called by the International Boxing Association, was the lone Indian in fray when women's boxing made its Olympic debut in the just-concluded London Games.
The five-time world champion ensured a piece of history for herself and the country by fetching a bronze in the flyweight 51kg division. But for someone who is more used to finishing at the top, bronze was less than satisfactory.
"I am very happy to be the first Indian woman boxer to get a bronze medal but I am sad that I could not convert it into gold. I don't know what happened during my semifinal bout. My body was not moving the way I would have liked and I felt as if I could not do anything. I was very much confused," the 29-year-old, who returned to the country to a rousing reception early this morning, told PTI in an interview.
Hundreds of cheering fans welcomed Mary Kom at the airport, breaking into an impromptu jig in which the boxer also participated. She was accompanied by her husband Onler Kom and her mother Akham Kom.
Mary Kom lost 6-11 to England's two-time world champion Nicola Adams in the semifinals and reflecting on the bout, the diminutive Manipuri was at a loss of words to explain what went wrong.
"I never get nervous before bouts but that day I don't know what was happening to me. I can't even explain it. I was not attacking as much and may be it was the crowd also which was cheering Nicola. I generally don't get affected by how the crowd is behaving but probably in the semifinals, it affected me," she recalled.
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