Indian boxing legend Mary Kom’s Olympic journey ends after losing in pre-quarter of Tokyo
TOKYO: Indian boxing star MC Mary Kom’s Olympic journey comes to an end after a shocking defeat in women’s 51kg at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
Mary Kom, the face of India’s boxing contingent, was defeated by Colombia’s Ingrit Valencia in the pre-quarterfinals by a single point. As the Olympics have an age cap of 40, Thursday’s match proved to be the 38-year-old’s last bout at the event.
Mary Kom was left shocked when she realised that she had lost the match. The former Olympic bronze medalist was confused and unsatisfied after losing on a 3-2 split verdict despite winning two of the three rounds.
Mary Kom raised her hand as soon as the match was over, thinking she had won. But Mary was shocked when the judges of the match declared Valencia the winner.
In round one, four of the five judges gave Valencia 10 points, while only one judge gave Mary 10 points. In the following two rounds, Mary received 10 points from three judges, while Valencia received 10 points from only two. Although Mary won in rounds two and three, Valencia had more points over the three rounds during the final tallying of scores.
After the match both boxers raised their hands with big smiles on their faces. But Mary didn’t notice the referee pointing to Valencia and declaring her the winner. She celebrated without realizing what had happened.
“I was happy inside the ring, when I came out, I was happy because in my mind I knew I had won. When they took me for doping, I was still happy. Only when I saw the social media and my coach (Chhote Lal Yadav repeated it to me), it sunk in that I have lost,” Mary said.
After the match, Mary said that the decision of the judges was unfortunate and that she would remain in the competition until the age of forty. She also stated that she will take the matter up with boxing’s task force.
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