Terrific boxerMary Kom(51KG) booted up her play with a win against Miguelina Hernandez Garcia of the Dominican Republic and got short-listed to the last 16 in women’s fly-high.
Mary Kom sustained a 4-1 against a 23year old (Miguelina Hernandez Garcia).
The match was such a treat that engaged all the audience the whole time where both the champions displaying their herculean tactics.
Mary Kom’s plan to make Gracia lunge on her worked wonderfully allowing her to land clear punches on Gracia. Gracia had the spirit till the end but was not successful due to her inability to strike in a clear field.
“I am just getting started”, says Mary Kom after defeating her 15year younger opponent.
Mary Kom is now advanced the pre-quarterfinals to battle up against Ingrit Valencia of Colombia, a bronze medalist at the Rio TOKYO 2021 OLYMPICS on 29th of July, Thursday.
India is positioned at the 25th place at the end of day 3 with one silver won by Mirabai Chanu in weight lifting by lifting a total of 202kg(87kg in snatch+115kg in clean and jerk). Channu and Mary share a common birthplace, Manipur.
“We Manipuri’s will never give up. We will keep fighting till the end. I think it is in our genes,” giggled Mary
Indians had great hopes on PV Sindhu and Saniya mirza being former champions.PV Sindhu won her women’s singles first-round match in straight games against Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova. Saniya Mirza and Ankita Raina were knocked out by the Ukraine sisters.
Bhavani Devi in fencing and Atanu Das,Pravin Jadhav, and Tarundeep Rai in archery won to make Day 3 more hopeful for India.
38 year old and a 6 times world champion is also a mother of four children. She trains regularly even when at home. She proved that nothing can stop her from being a champion.
“I am grateful that I have a small gym at home. This has made it feasible for me to keep training hard ahead of Olympics. It is not the same story with every athlete. Many have struggled to practice during the pandemic,” Said Mary.
She has won 1 bronze in Olympic games, 6 gold-1 silver-1 bronze world championship, 1gold-1 bronze in Asian games,1 gold in the commonwealth, and 5 gold-2 bronze in the Asian championship.
“Being a girl fighting for 20 years is not an easy job,” says Mary.
She was also awarded the “Padma bushan”, in 2020.
She is also a member of the parliament, Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament.
Being able to do so much at once she is nicknamed “The magnificent Mary”.
In Tokyo, Mary has got another chance to prove herself to the world and she has been doing a great job so far. She now has her weapons, experience, and longevity to defeat anyone on her way.
As Indians let’s cheer her up on her way to success.