THE loss to athletics was a gain for boxing. And how beneficial it proved to be. A silver medal on debut, in the world championship, is how M. C. Merycom Hmangte authored the introduction to her career.
Making inroads into a manly sport, Merycom couldn't rest on the laurels. Winning medals was natural to her. But she wants to make it a habit. Maybe she has an outside chance of winning a medal for India in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
"For women, this is a new sport. That is why I took it up and I'm confident of winning medals in the events that matter," says Merycom of Manipur. A former 400m, 800m runner and a javelin thrower, Merycom has transformed herself into the boxing mould, even though her physique does not suggest so.
In the capital for the second National Women's championship, Merycom lived up to the expectations, winning the light-flyweight category. But, that was not all. The frequency with which Manipur has been taking the centrestage in most of the sports is noteworthy.
If Haryana bested Manipur on the basis of the number of gold medals won, the North-Eastern state had done its homework well to retain the overall title. Basically, by making it to six of the 12 finals, Manipur held sway over the others. Haryana was featured in the four finals and confidently it won all of them to assert itself.
Merycom carried Manipur's hopes. Her performance through the five days of the championship, inspired her teammates to give their best. Pinweight L. Sushila Devi, and featherweight L. Sarita Devi were the other two besides Merycom who stopped only after claiming gold medals.
"Boxing for women has opened many avenues. Since it is new for all the countries, there is a level playing field," says Merycom of her coming international engagements. The next assignment for the Indian women pugilists will be the Asian Championship, scheduled to be held in China in April.
The show put up by Haryana boxers, particularly heavyweight pugilist Jyotsana, was commendable. In the final against Reena Kanwar of Uttaranchal, Jyotsana was in full flow. She pounded Reena with relentless hooks and in less than 30 seconds won the bout.
The best boxer award, however, went to Manipur's Sarita Devi. She had a remarkable run in the championship. In all her contests Sarita never allowed her opponent to get the better of her. She won all her bouts by a distance and closed the final with a referee stopped contest in the second round against Meenakshi of Punjab.
Then again, fighting against a World silver medallist was an appreciable task. It lays heavy on the mind when being face-to-face with a world class player. Madhya Pradesh's Mamta Panda did considerably well to live up to the challenge.
The light-flyweight final between Mamta and Merycom rose to great heights. Mamta was not overawed by her opponent's resume. The decision was 24-15 in favour of Merycom, but Mamta also won the hearts. Fittingly, she was adjudged the best loser of the championship.
In the other weight categories, Punjab and Kerala won two gold medals each while Mizoram had one, through Jenny R. Lalrem in the welterweight class.
The results:Finals:Pinweight: L. Sushila Devi (Man) bt Lalbaik Sangi (Miz) 14-11.
Light-flyweight: M. C. Merycom Hmangte (Man) bt Mamta Panda (MP) 24-15.
Flyweight: Meena Kumari (Har) bt N. Asharani Devi (Man) RSC III.
Bantamweight: Sushama Kumari (Har) bt W. Sandhyarani (Man) 21-11.
Featherweight: L. Sarita Devi (Man) bt Meenakshi (Pun) RSC II.
Lightweight: Aswathy Prabha (Ker) bt K. Chitrabala Devi (Man) 22-12.
Light-welterweight: Seema Devi (Har) bt Jyoti Sharma (Del) 21-20.
Welterweight: Jenny R. Lalrem (Miz) bt Lal Malsawmi Hlono (Meg) RSC II.
Light-middleweight: Rupinder Kaur (Pun) bt Taruna Mishra (Jhar) RSC II.
Middleweight: Karamjit Kaur (Pun) bt Asha Devi (HP) RSC III.
Light-heavyweight: K. C. Lekha (Ker) bt Sangita Khalkha (Jhar) RSC II.
Heavyweight: Jyotsana (Har) bt Reena Kanwar (Uttaranchal) RSC I.
Semifinals:Pinweight: L. Sushila Devi (Man) bt Monica Singh (UP) RSC II; Lalbaik Sangi (Miz) bt Bharti Thakur (MP) RSC III.
Light-flyweight: M. C. Merycom Hmangte (Man) bt Sharmila Devi (Har) RSC II; Mamta Panda (MP) bt G. Parveen (TN) 22-11.
Flyweight: Meena Kumari (Har) bt Nindra (HP) RSC III; N. Asharani Devi (Man) bt E. Saraswathi (TN) 21-5.
Bantamweight: Sushama Kumari (Har) bt Geetanjali (Del) RSC III; W. Sandhyarani (Man) bt Alpana Sharma (UP) RSC II.
Featherweight: Meenakshi (Pun) bt Tarun Yadav (MP) 27-18; L. Sarita Devi (Man) bt Arti Sharma (Del) 26-8.
Lightweight: K. Chitrabala Devi (Man) bt Pranamich Dhurvka (Asm) 27-12; Aswathy Prabha (Ker) bt L. Aluvlmawic (Miz) 19-6.
Light-welterweight: Jyoti Sharma (Del) bt N. Usha (AP) 15-9; Seema Devi (Har) bt Okwali Manchai (Asm) 22-7.
Welterweight: Lal Malsawmi Hlono (Meg) bt B. V. Padmavathi (AP) RSC II; Jenny R. Lalrem (Miz) bt Kavita Pannu (Har) RSC II.
Light-middleweight: Rupinder Kaur (Pun) bt Hina D. Patil (Guj) RSC I; Taruna Mishra (Jhar) bt M. Singalamma (AP) RSC I.
Middleweight: Asha Devi (HP) bt Gurbir Minhas (AP) 14-3; Karamjit Kaur (Pun) bt Renu (Har) RSC II.
Light-heavyweight: K. C. Lekha (Ker) w.o Poonam Rana (UP); Sangita Khalkha (Jhar) bt Gurpreet Kaur (Pun) 28-13.
Heavyweight: Jyotsana (Har) bt Narinder Kaur (Pun) 10-7; Reena Kanwar (Uttaranchal) bt Chemi Wangmo (Skm) RSC II.
Team championship: 1. Manipur 34 points, 2. Haryana 32, 3. Punjab 19.
Best boxer: L. Sarita Devi; Best loser: Mamta Panda.
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