Sarjubala Devi aims to follow Mary Kom’s footsteps ahead of Asian Games

08/15/2018

Indian boxer Sarjubala Devi has aimed to follow boxing legend Mary Kom’s footsteps as she sets her sights on a Gold medal at the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia. Devi has been selected to participate in the 51 kilograms category at the Asiad and is looking forward to maintaining the weight.

Born in Manipur, Sarjubala was inspired by the stories of Mary Kom’s success as she joined boxing during her school days in 2005. Two years later, She joined the Sports Authority of India training centre in her city, Imphal. Through hard work and dedication, she won the World Youth Championships in 2011 and later went on to win the senior national championships the same year.

However, Sarjubala missed out on a Commonwealth Games (CWG) appearance earlier this year. Speaking of which, she said that it was disheartening at that time but is giving her even more motivation to do well at Jakarta and Palembang now. As a result, she felt the need to change most of the things about herself in order to bring in the luck factor.

“It feels nice when people call me the next Mary Kom. I had hoped to get a trial for the CWG, but it never happened and I was really dejected. I thought I needed to change everything, so I coloured my hair gold to keep myself motivated and bring in the luck factor,” Sarjubala said.

Speaking of the recent changes and performances, the 25-year-old boxer said that she had to change her weight category from 48 kg to 51 kg in order to be able to participate in the Asian Games and the Tokyo Olympics. She further revealed that of late she has been focusing on the 51 kg category and has even won a few medals in India and at the international level.

“The Asian Games will not have the 51 kg category and neither will the Tokyo Olympics. So I realised I needed to move up. I have been focusing on the 51 kg category. Had won a gold at Rohtak in January followed by two bronze medal performances in two international tournaments,” she added.

The Manipuri boxer revealed how Mary Kom guided her through the rough patches and felt that it was very tough to even match Kom’s achievements.

“I have been in the same training camps as Mary Kom for many years now. I always ask her about my mistakes and other important things. She would tell me where I was going wrong and help me out. Of course, it will be difficult to even compete against her and match her achievements,” Sarjubala said.

Sarjubala Devi aims to follow Mary Kom’s footsteps ahead of Asian Games

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