Was Asked To Change Dress a Minute Before Bout: Mary Kom
Mary Kom was knocked out of the Round of 16 on Thursday,
Mary Kom raised her hand even after it was announced that the 'red' won the match
(Credit: PTI)
Ace veteran boxer Mary Kom has said was shocked after the result of her quarterfinal against Columbian Ingrit Valencia went against her. Kom's opponent was adjudged as the winner by a split decision, which left many on experts questioning the result too.
On Friday, the 6-time world champion tweeted that she had been also asked to changed the ring dress just a minute before her round of 16 match.
The 38-year-old forced her hand up as soon as the referee raised Ingrit's and in a show of sportsmanship, hugged her opponent after what may be her last bout at the quadrennial Games.
Though she managed to keep her emotions in check in the ring as she congratulated her opponent, the reality of the end of an Olympic career sank in only after she had reached the doping centre.
"When I reached the doping centre, I could not believe that I have lost," Mary Kom told India Today channel.
The coach consoled her saying that she fought well and should have been the winner of the close bout which she had lost 2-3.
"My coach explained to me that you have won. And then I saw social media (where people praised her and said she should have won the bout), and I was in shock and was upset. In my fight, such [close] decisions do take place. What do I say? I can't protest," she added.
The 32-year-old Colombian, who had won the bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, took 10 points each from four of the five judges in the first round, unlike the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Indian, who could earn 10 from only one judge.
That first round clearly weighed heavily against Mary Kom as the remaining two rounds were won by her by the thinnest of margins.
Mary Kom managed 10 points each from three judges in the second and third rounds while two judges gave 10 to Ingrit in those rounds.
On Thursday, her journey ended as she had announced that she would retire after the Tokyo Olympics. She wanted it to end on a glorious note, with another Olympic medal around her neck. But that was not to be.
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