Officials were baised towards host nation, says Mary Kom

Mary, who was hard done by the referee, was sad not to live up to a promise to Suranjoy

Mary, who was hard done by the referee, was sad not to live up to a promise to Suranjoy

They say a true champion is one, who is humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Mary Kom proved yesterday that she is a true world champion. The five-time world champion boxer, albeit in different categories (46kg, 48kg), lost her Asian Games 48-51Kg semi-final bout 7-11 to reigning world champion Ren Cancan but won hearts at the Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium here with her sheer grit.

China's Ren Cancan is cornered with a flurry of punches by India's Mary Kom in the semi-final of the 48-51kg category semi-final bout at the Foshan Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium yesterday. Pic/AFP

Shock defeat
However, few know that minutes before her bout, she was backstage, comforting fellow Manipuri Asian Champion and hot favourite to win gold here, Suranjoy Singh. Suranjoy too was victim to poor umpiring decisions and suffered a shock defeat against China's Chang Yong in the men's 52Kg category. National coach GS Sandhu revealed: "She (Mary Kom) is a very sweet girl. She watched Suranjoy's fight and knew he was upset after the defeat. So, she came to him in the training area backstage and consoled him.

'I will take your revenge against my Chinese opponent. I may lose but I will hit her hard' she told Suranjoy."

And that's exactly what the 27-year-old fighter did. After falling back 1-3 in the first round, Mary Kom landed a left-right combination to make it 3-3. However, Cancan made one soft punch to take the lead once again.

Round Three saw Mary make another comeback as a power-packed left had the Chinese shaken, however the reigning champion came back again and took a 7-4 lead into the final round. Round Five, saw Cancan employ some unfair tactics as she held the Indian down repeatedly clinging on to her to avoid her punches. But Mary Kom tried hard to fight back not only against Cancan but also Turkish referee Berna Yurtsever, who refused to penalise the local lady. Unfortunately, referee Yurtsever and Cancan won, resigning Mary Kom to her first loss in the ring in 10 years.

"I was punching but she was pushing me down.

She was taller so she could easily get her arm around my neck and put me down, but the referee did nothing about it," a smiling yet livid Mary Kom said.

When reminded of a similar incident that saw India's World No 1 boxer in the 75Kg category, Vijender Singh penalised costing him his bout in the CWG semi-final, Mary Kom said: "This was exactly the same thing, but no penalty was awarded here. The refereeing is partial.

Local support
"They are supporting the Chinese boxers. The crowd is screaming for the local boxers and the judges are awarding points according to crowd reactions," said Mary Kom, who admitted that her inability to put on enough weight may have also been a problem for her given this is a higher weight category than her world championship-winning 46Kg.

Mary however was disappointed that she could not keepu00a0 her word to Suranjoy. "I was unable to win but I did give her a tough fight," she said, smiling again.

Meanwhile, Cancan handed Mary Kom a huge compliment when she said: "She uses good tactics. I have to learn a lot from her. She is a mother of two kids and has a lot of perseverance."