Winners Who Cared for Nothing but…GOALS

Every individual on this earth, whether rich or poor, strong or weak, has to go through various ups and downs in his/her life. Everyone has to face various challenges in their lives. Some succumb to the atrocities in life and those who take up the challenges positively are the ones who become an inspiration for others. We all have certain capabilities in us and the only need is to realize them and work upon them.

There are many inspirational tales depicting the courage and strength of many individuals who have converted their disabilities into strengths and have created motivational and inspirational vision for others in life. ‘Winners Who Cared for Nothing but…GOALS’ is a series of articles where we share with you rags to riches stories of people who never stopped trying. This is the sixth article of the series and here we will share the story of a hero, or more appropriately a “shero”, a lady who is synonymous to perseverance, dedication and love for passion. She is none other than MC Mary Kom, five-time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. 

Mary Kom is a perfect example of dedication, perseverance, pride and living the passion. Mary Kom’s story shows us how struggle with strong determination can take you to your goal and make you live the life of your dreams. 

Mary Kom was born in a small village named Kangathei of Manipur to a poor family of farmers. Her parents had to work in fields of Jhum to earn their bread and butter. She had three younger siblings and she had to take care of them. All she wanted at that time was to do anything to remove poverty from her family. During her education tenure, she had to change a lot of schools but she always did well in sports. Mary was good in almost all sports apart from boxing. Her parents disliked boxing as it was not considered a ladies sport. Her father was himself an Wrestler but he never supported Mary as he feared that it can decrease her chances of getting married. 

Despite all this, Mary developed a strong love towards boxing. It became her passion and it got close to her heart. It was very difficult for her to ignore her parents and practice boxing. But she followed her heart and decided to chase her dream of boxing. But she had to manage money for her family expenses and she could not afford to get good boxing skills and proper coaching. She was even street fighting to fulfill the financial needs of her home. However, her first training started under the coaching of Kosana Meitei in Imphal.

When she was 15, she took the decision to leave her hometown to study at the Sports academy in the state capital Imphal and there she met Narjit Singh. Narjit Singh, the coach of Manipur State Boxing, recognized her potential and he started to train her. Mary started to prepare for the state Boxing Championship hidden from her family. Mary proved herself when she won the state boxing championship in 2000. That was the time when her father realized her passion and supported her dream for Boxing. Meanwhile, she met K onler Kom and they both got married in 2005. They got blessed with three children. Mary started training again after the birth of her first two children and in 2008 she won a silver medal at the Asian Women’s Boxing Championship in India and a fourth successive gold medal at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship in China, followed by a gold medal at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam.

Mary was unstoppable now. In 2010, she Asian Women’s Boxing Championship in Kazakhstan,. In the 2010 Asian Games won a bronze medal. In 2011, she won gold at the Asian Women’s Cup in China. Mary was the first Indian woman to qualify the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship and to get a place for the Olympics. 

She followed her dreams and passion and despite being a wife and a mother, she inspired many women to follow their passion in life. Her journey had never been successful if her husband would not have supported her. He always stood beside her in her struggle of life. One must never give up in his life, as those who love their passion, achieve it sooner or later.