‘Desperate for competition’: Mary Kom says Asian Boxing C’ship will be crucial Olympics preparation

It’s a tournament that she has dominated for years but the Asian Boxing Championship this time is more than just a medal-winning opportunity for MC Mary Kom, who is “desperate for competition” before the Olympics after training in India was thrown haywire by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mary Kom (51kg) has collected one silver and a staggering five gold medals from her seven appearances at the continental showpiece.

The six-time world champion can’t wait to land in Dubai for the upcoming edition, which starts on May 24 because all she wants right now is a “good slugfest”.

“I have been so eager to compete, there has hardly been any training because of the pandemic and I need this desperately to assess myself before the Olympics,” the 38-year-old Manipuri told PTI from Pune, where she has been training for the past few days.

She had to move to Pune, along with a couple of other Olympic-bound women boxers, after the national camp in Delhi was forced to shut down because of a Covid-19 outbreak in the bubble created at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium last month.

“It has not been easy. I was at home after coming back from the tournament in Spain (in March). My children were not well, we had…

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