New Delhi: The first thing they teach you in boxing is to get back on your feet, no matter how many times you land on the mat.
And India’s golden girl in that sport is doing just that.
Six-time world champion and Olympic bronze-medallist M C Mary Kom spoke to news agency PTI on what she claimed was the “darkest phase” of her life, urging people to spare her the trial.
“What’s the point of all that I achieved,” she wondered while opening up about a painful divorce, near bankruptcy and a quiet emotional collapse.
The 43-year-old said she has decided to speak up as the “slander has gone too far” on social media and in news reports, making a “mockery” of her situation.
“I have been called greedy by people who know nothing about what I went through. Yes, I am now separated from my husband Onler and it all happened more than two years ago,” she said in a telephonic interview from Ahmedabad where she was attending the an Indian Olympic Association (IOA) event.
Mary Kom was married to fellow Manipuri Onler for over two decades and their divorce in 2023 shocked close family and acquaintances.
“Things were fine till I was competing and had very little involvement in my finances but when I got injured before the 2022 Commonwealth Games, I realised I was living a lie,” she claimed.
“I was bed-ridden for several months, needed a walker after that. It was then that I realised that the man I had trusted was not what I believed him to be. I did not want it to be a spectacle for the world so I sought a divorce after several attempts to resolve it between us,” Mary Kom said.
“I informed my family and his family that it cannot continue and they understood. I was hoping that it would stay private but then a concerted attempt has been made to slander me for the last one year. I thought I would not respond but then my silence was being misread and the attacks kept increasing,” she claimed.
A former Rajya Sabha member, who now lives in Faridabad, alleged she has been cheated of crores and lost possession of land she bought with her own hard-earned money.
“He kept taking loans, mortgaging my property which he transferred in his name. He borrowed money from locals in Churachandpur and to recover it from him, they have seized the land through underground groups,” the ace pugilist claimed.
Onler, when contacted by the agency, denied the charge and said he has “not been involved in any wrongdoing.”
Mary Kom expressed her anguish at being slandered in media.
“…there are news reports that call me the greedy one, who forced him to contest elections (2022 in Manipur). I did not do any of it. Things which were only discussed between me and him are being fed to tabloids to paint me as the villain and my character is being questioned. I had to react at some point,” she said.
“What is the point of my achievements? Kya fayda, I have been left broken but I can’t even afford to grieve. Because I have four kids to take care of, parents who are dependent on me,” Mary Kom said.
“I haven’t and don’t wish to take any police action but just leave me alone, stop slandering me,” she pleaded.
Mary Kom has three sons, including twins, and a daughter, who is the youngest.
The flyweight boxer, who also heads the IOA Athletes Commission, said she has managed to gather herself for her children and is now busy rebuilding her finances through endorsements and commercial appearances.
“I work hard for my kids, God knows how difficult it has been but can you afford to stay down when you have children? You have to pick yourself up,” she said.
The most successful Indian boxer of all times, she was nicknamed ‘Magnificent Mary’ by the international boxing body back in 2012.
“But I fight on. My life is one long boxing bout it seems. But God is there, he will give me strength hopefully,” she said.
