New Delhi: Six-time world champion Mary Kom has expressed displeasure after her 51kg semi-final loss against Busenaz Cakiroglu of Turkey at the World Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia. She lost the bout 1-4.
“It was horrible what happened after the bout. Whoever follows boxing and knows the rules and regulations will understand what happened in the fight. I am not saying that I am right. I am not happy with the result. That’s all,” Mary said. Her bid for seventh title ended after 1-4 loss to Cakiroglu. The appeal by Indian contingent was turned down by the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) technical committee. As per the rules, the decision has to be either 3-2 or 3-1 for an appeal to be accepted for consideration.
The Indian legend had to settle with bronze that took her overall Worlds tally to eight. Mary has bagged 6 golds, 1 silver and a bronze in her career so far.
The Olympic qualification tournament is set to take place in February in China and the Manipuri boxer expects a fair outcome this time as it will be played under IOC.
“I think this time IOC will organise the qualification tournament and not AIBA. So I hope a similar incident will not take place.” Mary further added that she has even expressed her views during IOC meetings about bringing in more transparency into the system.
“I attended IOC meeting as representative of athletes for AIBA. I had expressed my views and asked them to bring in more transparency in points system during bouts. Those who deserve should win.”
Mary has previously won her seven titles in 48kg category. She then shifted to 51kg category as 48kg was not included in Tokyo Olympics. The 36-year-old boxer believes that World Championships was the right platform to test the strength of other boxers in the category.
“Before going into the World Championships, I thought it was important for me to participate so as to know the boxers who will fight in the 51category. I wanted to know if they are stronger or weaker than me,” she said.
On being asked if she found them stronger, she said, “I found some boxers were stronger than me while some were weaker. Thailand boxer Jutamas Jitpong particularly was very strong. Some of them are really attacking but I am not someone who keeps quiet. I have my strategies.”