PUNE, India – The Indian heat is searing in the gym when the power goes out.<\/p>\n
A physio hurries over with an emergency lamp and boxing star MC Mary Kom resumes battering the punchbag.<\/p>\n
It’s hardly an ideal training session for an Olympic hopeful, but then glory never came easily for Kom.<\/p>\n
From her beginnings as a poor farmers’ daughter in a remote and troubled corner of India, “Magnificent Mary” has fought her way up to become five-times world boxing champion.<\/p>\n
The mum-of-two is now tipped as her country’s best bet to win gold at London 2012 – a position few could envisage when she began learning to box.<\/p>\n
\n“People were discouraging me, saying in India there are not women boxers. That was my first challenge. I took the challenge, I had to prove myself<\/strong>,”<\/p>\n
she told AFP in Pune, the western Indian city where she is currently training.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Kom – full name Mangte Chungneijang Merykom – was born 29 years ago in the northeastern state of Manipur, the eldest of four to parents who struggled to support their family through working on the fields.<\/p>\n
Source: Asiaone|Sunday, May 06, 2012<\/p>\n
Click here for full details<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Read more \/ Original news source: http:\/\/kanglaonline.com\/2012\/05\/indias-champion-boxing-mum-eyes-olympic-gold-manipur-sports\/<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"