CHENNAI: MC Mary Kom stole headlines after making history on Thursday. But someone who’s been as impressive is Manju Rani, who plies her trade in the 48kg category. Saturday was a case in point. While Mary and the rest missed out by close margins in the AIBA Women’s World Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia, Manju punched her way into the final with victory over Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat. “I fought with her in the past. I had some experience. I’m delighted with this,” she said.
Manju is set for the biggest bout of her nascent career on Sunday. She’ll be up against Russia’s Ekaterinal Paltceva. This has come after a struggle. Coming from a poor family in Rithal village in Haryana, she faced plenty of hurdles when she took up the sport nine years ago, her mother Ishwanti recalled.“She was an active kid and took part in cultural events when in the fourth-fifth standard. One day in eighth standard, she came home and said that a boy had won a medal, and she wants to follow the same path. But her father turned her down.”
Her father, who served for Border Security Force, was suffering from cancer. “I remember him saying ‘We are poor. If you break your leg, who’ll marry you’,” Ishwanti said.Manju lost her father soon and had to put her boxing dreams on hold. Four years later, her sporting career resumed as she took up kabaddi under the guidance of Saheb Singh, her father’s friend. However, they were struggling for numbers and Saheb shifted her to boxing. “He had taken a small space on rent in Rohtak to teach them. Full credit goes to him,” said Ishwanti, who runs a small bangle shop.
That paid off as she won the state and junior national titles in her first attempt in 2014. She repeated the feat in 2015 and 2016 at the state level but never got along with the state body, shifting base to Punjab. Representing Punjab she had won her first senior national gold this January. That earned her a spot in the national camp.
Protests turned down
Mary Kom’s (51kg) bid for a record seventh gold came crashing down in controversial fashion. She seemed to be in disbelief as soon as the referee raised Busenaz Cakiroglu’s hand after a tough quarterfinal showdown, with the five judges ruling 4-1 in the Turkish second seed’s favour.The Indian camp took swift action as per AIBA instructions, filing a protest, but it was turned down as a 4-1 loss is non-reviewable as per rules.
Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) lost a close bout and the Indian camp raised a protest on her behalf too. However, this was also denied as the evaluator agreed with the scores. Jamuna Boro (54kg) also settled for bronze medal.