The recent developments at the Asian Games have been quite remarkable. On one hand, there is Mary Kom, who bagged the gold medal, her first in Asian Games and a first one for our country also, and on the other hand is Sarita Devi, who gave up her bronze medal in protest against the unfair judgement meted out to her.
Mary Kom has had a tumultuous journey from a rebellious teenager to a boxing champion, commanding respect for her achievements. Boxing is a manly sport and for a woman to survive and triumph in this sport is truly amazing, especially in a country like India, where women have to deal with too many odds in order to get their due. In fact, had it not been for the glamorous Ms Priyanka Chopra, most of us would have been blissfully unaware of her even now!
And what makes her victory more joyous is that Kom's gold medal has come during the Navratri festival, when the Goddess Durga is worshipped all over India. This festival is marked by worshipping the female form as the supreme being. Durga is 'shakti', the power of a woman. And Mary Kom has only added to it- kudos to her!
However, it is Sarita Devi whom I want to applaud. She is another talented boxer from Manipur. She was handed an unfair judgement and even lost her appeal against the decision. During the award ceremony, she was crying bitterly as she looked at the bronze medal, but finally, and very courageously, she handed it to her opponent who got the silver medal. On being returned the medal by her opponent, she stunned officials by leaving the medal on the podium and walking away.
It is very unfortunate that Indian officials have not done anything worth mention to help the lady. Though Sarita Devi faces disciplinary charges for her conduct, what she did was very brave. She later said that if she would have not done so, she would have never been able to focus on her career anymore. She is also ready to face the consequences for what she did.The right judgement would have given her a chance to fight for Gold, and here she was, left with a bronze medal, due to a biased judgement.
Both Mary Kom and Sarita Devi are true winners. Both have boxed and punched their way to success. And medal or no medal, there is no difference between the two- both are women, both are mothers, both are boxers and both are winners- only, one of them had to return a medal to prove herself.
Mary Kom has had a tumultuous journey from a rebellious teenager to a boxing champion, commanding respect for her achievements. Boxing is a manly sport and for a woman to survive and triumph in this sport is truly amazing, especially in a country like India, where women have to deal with too many odds in order to get their due. In fact, had it not been for the glamorous Ms Priyanka Chopra, most of us would have been blissfully unaware of her even now!
And what makes her victory more joyous is that Kom's gold medal has come during the Navratri festival, when the Goddess Durga is worshipped all over India. This festival is marked by worshipping the female form as the supreme being. Durga is 'shakti', the power of a woman. And Mary Kom has only added to it- kudos to her!
However, it is Sarita Devi whom I want to applaud. She is another talented boxer from Manipur. She was handed an unfair judgement and even lost her appeal against the decision. During the award ceremony, she was crying bitterly as she looked at the bronze medal, but finally, and very courageously, she handed it to her opponent who got the silver medal. On being returned the medal by her opponent, she stunned officials by leaving the medal on the podium and walking away.
It is very unfortunate that Indian officials have not done anything worth mention to help the lady. Though Sarita Devi faces disciplinary charges for her conduct, what she did was very brave. She later said that if she would have not done so, she would have never been able to focus on her career anymore. She is also ready to face the consequences for what she did.The right judgement would have given her a chance to fight for Gold, and here she was, left with a bronze medal, due to a biased judgement.
Both Mary Kom and Sarita Devi are true winners. Both have boxed and punched their way to success. And medal or no medal, there is no difference between the two- both are women, both are mothers, both are boxers and both are winners- only, one of them had to return a medal to prove herself.
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