The six-time world boxing champion MC Mary Kom has gone to join the rest of the Olympic boxing crew for training in Italy and to avoid any restrictions for Covid for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
MC Mary Kom will take off for Assisi in a few to join the rest of the eight boxers currently undergoing training in Italy. Then, they will together leave for Tokyo for the Olympics there itself.
She was undergoing training at Pune Army institute for the games which were going to start on July 23rd.
Mary Kom stated, “I have changed my plans. I have returned to Delhi and will leave for Italy maybe in two or three days. There are stricter quarantine restrictions on those who are traveling from India, and I want to avoid them.”
She continued, “After training so hard for so long, no point in taking such a risk as hard quarantine may break the rhythm.”
The Boxing Champion
The world champion will be accompanied by her coach Chhote Lal Yadav and a physio.
All the Indian athletes have been requested by the Japanese government to be tested for Covid every day for one week before they leave to come to Japan.
They have also been requested by the Japanese: that no one will interact with players from other countries for three days after the athletes arrive in Japan.
These strict rules will be allotted for other ten countries apart from India, and the athletes who have landed in Japan from a country like Italy won’t come under these restrictions.
The Indian Olympic Association has asked the Japanese government to relax some restrictions for Indian athletes as it causes too much hustle for them on the previous week before they arrive in Japan.
Although the request was not granted by the Japanese government, they did relax a few medical updates, and all the players have to fill an online form.
Mary Kom acknowledges that the protocols are tough, but she doesn’t need to get carried away by the thought of it or anything that will hinder her form, resulting in bad performance.