London: Indian boxing star M C Mary Kom’s gold medal hopes were dashed when she lost her semifinal bout against a superior British rival to settle for a bronze here on Wednesday.
Mary’s medal took India’s tally to four – one silver and three bronze – which is one more than the country’s haul in the 2008 Games in Beijing, where it had a gold medal too through rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra.
“Adams was very clever, a counter puncher, but although she carried power she wasn’t very tactical”, Mary said after losing the 51kg semi final bout 6-11 to number two seed Nicola Adams of Britain.
The diminutive Manipuri, however, was happy to end her ring campaign with at least a bronze medal against an opponent who had the home crowd to root for her.
“Women’s boxing has made its debut in the Olympics and I am happy that I could win a bronze medal.
“I wanted to do better than this, but today I could not beat my opponent who had the advantage of boxing in front of her home crowd. It makes a lot of difference,” said the mother of two twin boys.
“My whole country was hoping for me to win a gold medal, and I am sorry I have not come back with that.
“Lot of people have prayed for my success and I thank them all. But in sports, you win some and you lose some.
“I did make some mistakes. Mistakes will always happen, other wise I will win all the bouts. I tried my best and gave it all. But I was not lucky enough to win today,” she said after losing to a taller opponent with better reach.
With no box-off in the programme for the losing semifinalists, Mary got one of the two bronze medals on offer in her weight category.
But Mary Kom’s moment of glory is here.
“I have almost reached my destiny. My ultimate goal was to win a medal at the Olympics,” she told a news magazine just before she flew out to London.
Now she even has Amitabh Bachchan tweeting her messages of congratulations.
“What a story!” said a part of his tweet on Monday when she won her bronze.
Saad Shervani, a New Delhi lawyer, canceled an evening meeting to watch her box on Wednesday.
“It’s a shame she hasn’t gotten attention before. She’s been around longer and winning longer than the other poster girls of Indian sports,”he said.
In Imphal, the excitement was electric.
“Her challenges have been quite hard always. She’s where she is after having two children, playing in a higher weight category. We are very proud of her,” said L Kailun Kom, a senior officer in Manipur’s police force. The two are not related.
Large screens were put up in Imphal’s city centre so everyone could watch the hometown boxer take her shot at Olympic glory. Many of her fans bought firecrackers, anticipating a celebration.
But the crowd of 200 supporters watching the bout at a sports centre went away saddened.
“We were so looking forward to her winning that this has come as very sad news,” said A. Ranjan Singh, a weightlifting coach. “She’s won the bronze. We will have to settle for that.” (Agencies)