Imphal:
Mary Kom yesterday said sorry to the country that she had not managed to get a silver or gold. It was a needless apology. Mary Kom has fought her way to the top without much help from the country, really. And, as payback, has even started a boxing academy at her home in Imphal where she trains young needy aspirants for free.
Most of the young girls and boys at the academy come from distant villages and from impoverished families. And they have another thing in common - they all want to become like Mary Kom. So Mary Kom has taken them under her wing at her boxing academy, where she coaches them without any charges.
"I want to be like Mary Kom. I have dreamt about it. So I am very glad I could join madam's academy," says 17-year-old Kim Ross, who was permitted by her coach Naobi to take a break from training to talk to us.
Ramanjit Singh, 15, another student at the academy, comes from a village in Churachandpur district. He says, " I come from a poor family and but for Mary Kom, who is giving us everything free, I would never be able to fulfil my dream of becoming a boxer."
Mary Kom started the academy in 2006. And today it has 40-odd students, half of them day scholars, the other half boarders. Mary keeps the girls in her own home and has rented a house for the boys.
Coach Naobi says Mary had to struggle so much to get to the top, she wants to help others
"Madam had to really struggle to reach the Olympics. She is from a poor family who lived far away from Imphal and it was very difficult for her." says Naobi. "She wanted to do something for girls and boys like her who love boxing. I think that's why she opened this academy."
But the six-year-old Academy doesn't even have a sign board and all training takes place in a public ground in front of Mary Kom's house.
With the bronze under her belt, her students are hoping the Manipur government will soon fulfill its two-year-old promise to Mary Kom to give her land for her school for aspiring indigent boxers.