The six-time world champion and London Olympics Bronze Medallist Mary Kom is the flag-bearer for India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This will be her second and possibly last Olympics outing after she could not make the cut for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Since then though, Mary has been consistently pushing the limits to win on the ultimate stage.
The 38-year-old will kickstart her fight for gold against M.Hernandez Garcia of the Dominica Republic on 25 July and to boost her confidence ahead of the match, her children recorded a heartfelt good luck video for her. In the recording they said, “you are the best mama, don’t feel lonely mama we are with you.”
“Hi Mama! You are everything for us and I want you to win a Gold medal for all of us in the Tokyo Olympics and I know you can do it.”
Mary secured her ticket for the Tokyo Olympics in the 51kg category at the Asian Olympic qualification tournament in Amman, Jordan, in March of last year. She also won a bronze medal at the AIBA World Boxing Championship in 2019.
Kom has been eagerly waiting for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as she missed the last event. In the 2012 edition, she only had to win one bout to ensure a medal, but this time around the scenario is different. To ensure a medal she will have to win a minimum of 3 bouts and another 2 to win gold. Conquering 5 bouts won’t be a cakewalk for Mary as she is not the no.1 boxer in her category anymore, she is ranked at no.7 for the games.
Although age is not on Mary’s side, the hopes and support of 1.3 billion Indians are with her and this makes her a solid contender to stand at the top of the podium.
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