Hail Mary, Indian boxing’s super mom

Hail Mary, Indian boxing's super mom

It was only a few days before MC Mary Kom departed for the Asian Cup in China that she and her husband K Onkholer found out that their three-year-old son Khupneivar needed surgery to correct a congenital heart condition. And it was with the grave knowledge that her young son was admitted in a hospital in Chandigarh, awaiting surgery to mend a hole in his heart, that she made her way through round after round eventually winning the gold medal at the Asian Cup.

Indian boxer Mary Kom is carried by her coach after winning gold at the
2006 World Women Boxing Championship in New Delhi. PIC/AFP

"Mary is not just an inspirational athlete but also one of the most inspirational people I know," says Viren Rasquinha, former hockey player and Chief Operations Officer of Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), the foundation that supports Kom.

"As a boxer, she is fast, ferocious and has the fierce desire to win. But it is her tremendous ability to switch off once she's outside the ring that makes her exceptional. Away from competition, she is a loving mother and wife, eager to spend time with her twin sons and husband."

Mary's many roles
Perhaps it is this ability to separate her two completely different roles that enables Kom to excel as a sportsperson and yet continue to live a normal, family life. It's no secret that her husband Onkholer plays a vital role in helping her maintain this balance. Kom rarely misses an opportunity to praise her husband in supporting her career and actively taking on the role of a full time care-giver when her boxing keeps her away from home.

"Onkholer is Mary's Rock of Gibraltar," says Rasquinha. "He keeps her grounded and takes care of the family whenever she is away training or competing. He is her manager, friend, confidante and husband all rolled in to one. They make a great team together and it is this partnership that helps her through the trying times in boxing and in their personal lives."

And it isn't just her own children that are on Kom's mind. Her boxing academy in Imphal aims to empower young talent that doesn't have access to the right facilities. From the start, the aim of the academy has been to ensure that lesser and lesser children have to face the hardships Kom did in trying to start her career in boxing.

Will power
The success that this pugilist from Manipur has achieved is unheralded in her field, irrespective of gender. Her will power to carry on in the hope of winning gold at the Olympics next year is nothing short of extraordinary.

For Kom, who went directly to Chandigarh after returning from China to be with her son, there has hardly been any time to revel in her victory at the Asian Cup. Her son's successful surgery is perhaps the real victory and a far more joyous occasion befitting a true celebration.