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'I am saying this in my case only. If I do not cut the weight properly then how will I play? I am there to win a medal and that is what I think.'
No stranger to the physical toll of weight management during a competition, six-time world champion boxer M C Mary Kom, on Thursday, waded into the debate surrounding wrestler Vinesh Phogat's Olympic heartbreak for being 100gm over, saying it is an individual responsibility to stay within the prescribed limit.
The 42-year-old mother of four, who was India's first woman boxer to win an Olympic medal (a bronze in London, 2012), was in Mumbai for a promotional event.
Speaking for the first time on Phogat, who was disqualified on the day of her 50kg finals in the Paris Games for being marginally over the prescribed limit, Mary Kom said: "I felt so disappointed in the sense that I have also done the same (weight management) for the last so many years. Weight is important, that is my responsibility. I cannot blame anyone."
"I do not want to say this in her case. I am saying this in my case only. If I do not cut the weight properly then how will I play? I am there to win a medal and that is what I think," she continued.
Mary Kom, in the past, has spoken about her weight cut routines and how difficult the process can be. The Manipuri started out as a pin-weight (46kg) category boxer before settling for the flyweight (51kg) division in her amateur career.
Phogat, who was seen as gold medal contender in Paris, skipped meals and fluids, worked out an entire night and also cut her hair to be within the requisite category but the effort fell short eventually.
She challenged her disqualification, calling the rules inhumane, but her appeal was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The wrestler retired to join politics after the heartbreak and is contesting the Haryana assembly elections on a Congress ticket.