Took up boxing after watching Muhammad Ali on TV: Mary Kom
She is upset with younger generation of boxers for not approaching her for advice
Panaji, Apr 14: Six-time women's world boxing champion and Olympic medallist M C Mary Kom Saturday said she turned to this combat sport after getting inspired by watching legendary boxer Muhammad Ali's fight on television.
The pugilist from Manipur said she also drew inspiration from action movies of Jackie Chan as well as fight sequences of Bollywood films starring Akshay Kumar and others initially.
She was speaking during an interaction with the delegates at the ongoing 'Goa Fest 2019', an annual event organised by advertising bodies in the country.
"My inspiration in the boxing field came when I saw Muhammad Ali's fight on television...I said to myself, if a man can fight, why can't a woman," she said.
"I also used to watch Bollywood movies like those of Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol and others," she added.
She said when she took up boxing, people were talking about it "very negatively".
"Before marriage, is it easier for everyone. But after marriage, the responsibilities increase," she said.
During her address before the interaction, she said, "Now I can say, we have everything. Only we don't have champions. They are not creating new champions, that is what we are lacking."
However, she clarified that she was not blaming the government, the companies or the federation for it.
"I am blaming the athletes. They still have more to learn," she said, adding that she was upset because athletes from the younger generation never approach her.
"They never come to me and ask about my experience. I feel very bad. After I retire whether we will have a champion or not, I don't know," she said.
"Come and ask me about my experience. Boxers those who are in the game, they have ego. Silver, bronze is not enough, they are still young, they will still continue for many years, future is bright," the Olympic bronze-medallist said.
The boxer said she was putting in "100-120 per cent" efforts to win a gold in 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
"This year is very important for me, because we have a qualification round in October-November. I am giving 100-120 per cent for the event," said the 36-year-old athlete.
Mary said it was not easy to maintain the performance after continuously winning the title.
"I have been trying since the beginning. I have kept on trying till the sixth title. It is not easy to maintain the performance," she said.
"To become a world champion once is easy. To become a one-time world champion is very easy. For other Athletes too it is easy, but repeating the performance is very hard," said the star boxer, whose life had inspired the movie 'Mary Kom' starring Priyanka Chopra.
"Many of the athletes in our country or all over the world are suffering because we have every year new young athlete coming up and defeating," she said.
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UN: India calls on international community to act together against ISIS, Al Qaeda
United Nations (PTI): India has called on the international community to act together against ISIS and Al Qaeda and their proxies, underlining that terrorism is an “existential threat” to international peace and security.
“Terrorism is an existential threat to international peace and security. It knows no borders, nationality, or race, and is a challenge that the international community must combat collectively,” First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Raghoo Puri said on Wednesday.
In remarks to the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) annual ambassadorial level briefing to Member States, Puri recalled the April 2025 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, carried out by The Resistance Front, a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN listed terror organisation. The terror attack led to the loss of lives of 26 tourists.
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“We must act together against ISIS and Al Qaeda and their proxies,” he said, adding that as a country which itself has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for the past nearly three decades, “India is acutely aware of the socio-economic and human cost of terrorism, especially for its victims.”
India added its voice in stressing on the importance of the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy (GCTS) as a central instrument for multilateral cooperation.
Puri said India will remain steadfast and engaged in the consultations for the 9th review of the GCTS, assuring full cooperation to co-facilitators Finland and Morocco during negotiations in the process.
Puri also highlighted that as Chair of the Counter Terrorism Committee in 2022, India has striven to bring these principles into the counter-terrorism architecture of the UN and into the debate on terrorism at the United Nations.
“Our follow up initiatives both in New York and around the world stand testimony to our commitment,” including the ‘Delhi Declaration’ - a landmark document to deal with the issue of countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, an issue Puri said is of acute importance for several Member States.
In October 2022, the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), chaired by India that year, had organised a special meeting in New Delhi and Mumbai on the overarching theme of ‘Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes’.
As an outcome of the special meeting, the committee had adopted the ‘Delhi Declaration’ on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
India continues to work closely with the UN via its various entities to build capacity and make its partners future ready to take on the ever-evolving scourge of terrorism, he said.
