India\\\’s wonder girl MC Mary Kom had to settle for the bronze as she went down fighting in her 51 kg semifinal bout to Britain\\\’s Nicola Adams at the Olympics in London on Wednesday.
Later, Mary Kom apologised for winning bronze and not a gold medal for India. "My whole country was hoping for me to win a gold medal, and I am sorry I have not come back with that," said Kom, who had to move up a weight category to fight in London.
Second-seed Nicola put on a flawless performance beating the Indian 11-6 at the packed ExCel Arena.
From the start of the bout, Mary Kom struggled to cope up with the Briton\\\’s speed. She came under pressure in the first round, having to fend off Nicola\\\’s powerful punches.
A couple of times the 29-year-old Indian, a mother of twins, was pinned in the corner and took some major blows losing the first round 1-3.
The second round was closer as both boxers tried to assert their dominance. However the five-time world champion found it difficult to get her way around the quick Briton, who narrowly edged the round 2-1.
Mary Kom, who had to switch two weight categories to get to 51kg, tried her best to reduce the deficit in the third round but had no answer to the speed of Niocla. The British fighter, who beat the Indian in the World Championships in China, made full use of her height advantage.
Mary Kom struggled as the Nicola displayed some clever boxing, causing the Indian massive problems. But to the credit of the newly crowned bronze medallist, she stuck it out and lost the third by a whisker.
The final round went pretty much in similar fashion as Mary Kom found it hard to cope with Nicola\\\’s superior size. With time running out the Indian went hell for leather but fell short and lost the round 2-3.
However, a bronze is certainly a great effort from ’Magnificent Mary”, whose name would be etched in the history of Indian sports as she will certainly remain the first among equals as far as women’s boxing is concerned.