NEHU confers honorary degree on Mary Kom
SHILLONG: Olympic medalist and Member of Parliament MC Mary Kom said on Tuesday her struggles in real life were more than what was portrayed in the eponymous Bollywood movie.
The five-time boxing world champion was conferred an honorary degree by North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) on Tuesday. Speaking on the occasion, Mary Kom said it was difficult to reach the top.
“If all my troubles and struggles were portrayed in the movie, the Boxing federation would have been smeared in controversies,” she said.
Her character in the Bollywood venture was played by Priyanka Chopra.
The boxer from Manipur said hard work, passion, dedication and discipline can help any person achieve his or her goal.
While talking about her new profession as member of the Rajya Sabha, Mary Kom said she was initially not interested in politics but later she decided to accept the post to serve society. “I will do my best to do good things for the society,” she said.
On the poor performance of India in the recently concluded Rio Olympics, she said it was sad to see that a country like India with such a huge population could manage only two medals.
On her not getting selected for the Olympics, Mary Kom said there were many qualifying rounds for men but only one opportunity for women. She pointed out that were good athletes in the country, including Meghalaya, but “awareness on sports is negligible”.
“My mantra is I enjoy whatever I do. I enjoyed while taking punches and I enjoyed while giving punches,” she said amidst a huge applause at the university hall that was packed to the rafters.
NEHU Vice Chancellor S.K Srivastava urged Mary Kom to become the ambassador of the university and said the university was planning to develop sports infrastructure on the campus.
“NEHU occupies the 15th rank in the National Institutional Ranking Framework. The university is making efforts to enter the top 10 list,” Srivastava said.
