A successful woman once said, “Ambition is like a cuss word for a woman. When a man is ambitious, he is called driven. When a woman is ambitious, it’s a bad thing. It is the irony of our world.”
That woman was Priyanka Chopra; one of the few powerful women in the world today.
Society doesn’t like an ambitious woman! And, no one can understand the challenges of an ambitious woman better than Mary Kom herself.
So, recently at one of the events, she sent across a very powerful message for every ambitious woman who is trying hard to break the glass ceiling, and achieve her dreams!
Image: BBCL
Someone asked Mary Kom whether she was the Mahendra Singh Dhoni of Indian boxing, getting better with age? The Multiple-time world champion smiled after a pause, replied: “What do you think?”
What Mary Kom said next is definitely a lesson for every woman, who shies away from talking about her achievements or letting people put her down.
Mary Kom, a hard-shelled fighter, the epitome of grit, passion, & self-respect answered:
“If Dhoni is a legend in cricket, I am a legend in boxing. You see, men can continue in the sport for a long time without facing too many obstacles.
But think how hard it is for a woman to come back in a combat sport like boxing after having three kids and then continue winning titles”
We love the way Mary Kom answered this. No one can deny what Mary Kom has achieved is beyond comparison.
The 36-year-old challenged every woman to keep shining and never giving up, and said:
“I challenge all women of our country to be like me, to continue shining in their respective fields even after marriage. Don’t stop, like I have never stopped”
Speaking about her own hunger for success, Mary Kom said:
“See, I have all kinds of medals… I have been the world champion six times, I also have an Olympic medal. But I haven’t yet won an Olympic gold, and that keeps me going.”
“I am still hungry to win more titles and I want to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. That’s the challenge I have taken up now.”
“There are so many obstacles, but I never give up. Who can stop me? If I can, why can’t the others? Take me as an example and keep fighting.”
‘Magnificent Mary’ has broken the glass ceiling in the field of boxing but what disappointed her was the fact that not many women’s boxing champions have come up in India after her.
“From what I see, the facilities, support and infrastructure in our sport have developed a lot in the last six-seven years.
From the government to the corporate world, people nowadays are more supportive to the sport than they were before.
Still we are not seeing new champions. Why? Because many in the current lot lack the required focus.
Also, today we see that winning an international medal, whatever may be the level, attracts unthinkable amounts of cash rewards.
Not just the Central government, even the states give monetary rewards.
If an athlete gets so much money after winning one medal, how will that person be hungry to work harder?”
