Veteran Indian boxer MC Mary Kom was forced to withdraw from the selection trial for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games due to a knee injury. The six-time world champion twisted her left knee in the first few minutes in the opening round of the 48kg semifinals against Haryana’s Nitu. Mary Kom will thus miss the quadrennial event, where she had become the first Indian woman boxer to claim a gold medal in the last edition in 2018.
“I was training so hard for this. This is just bad luck, I have never had a knee injury before,” a distraught Mary Kom said as she limped towards her car to head to the hospital.
Mary Kom fell on the canvas while trying to dodge a punch in the very first round of the bout. The 39-year-old tried to keep going after receiving medical assistance but after a couple of punches, she struggled to keep balance as she clutched her left knee and looked in a lot of pain.
“Six-time world champion Mary Kom has withdrawn from the ongoing Women’s Boxing Trials for the 2022 Commonwealth Games due to an injury she suffered,” the the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) said in a statement. The Manipuri had to be carried out of the ring. .
The London Olympics bronze medallist, whose left knee was heavily bandaged after the fall, was then taken to the hospital for scans.
The multiple-time Asian gold medallist had last competed in the Tokyo Olympics, where she had reached the pre-quarters before bowing out with a hard-fought loss.
“It is really unfortunate what happened. But one can never predict such things. Mary had been training hard for this,” national coach Bhaskar Bhatt said.
