Three years ago, when India emerged as the leading contingent with four gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the 2006 Women Boxing Championships in New Delhi, world champ Mary Kom had expressed her desire to represent India in the Olympics, ruing how her success seemed meaningless without it. The wait finally ended on Thursday, as IOC chief Jacques Rogge announced that women’s boxing would be introduced in the 2012 London Games.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time. It’s a dream come true for me. Every athlete’s dream is to compete in the Olympics, and I’m elated we’ve been given a chance. It cannot get bigger than this. I have to win gold,” Mary Kom, a four-time world champion, told The Indian Express.

There had been moves to add women’s boxing to the Olympics for the past eight years, and with all their efforts to get the nod for Beijing failing, boxing’s world body AIBA submitted a new proposal, pruning the categories to three (48-51 junior fly-weight, 57-61 lightweight, 71-75 kg super middleweight) and the maximum number of boxers to 40. They also proposed dropping a category in men’s boxing to stay within the IOC limit of 286 boxers. Mary Kom will be 30 by 2012, but insisted she will be ready. “It’s all about motivation. If this had not happened, I would have competed for another two years but my dream would’ve died,” she said.

Changed categories

“ONLY having three categories will mean we’ll have to make a few changes. We’re prepared because it’s a small price to pay. My silver at the world championship in 2001 came in the 48 kg category, before I shifted to the 46 kg. There are some very good 48 kg boxers like Chen Ying, Alexandra Kuleshova and Marlen Esparza. But at least I’ve got time to prepare till 2012,” Mary Kom said.

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