Mary Kom says deliberate ploy to disturb

Tokyo, Jul 30 (PTI): The absence of their own and the country’s name on some Indian boxers’ vests in the Olympics has caused a small furore here after the legendary M C Mary Kom alleged that she was forced to change minutes before her last-16 bout without proper explanation from the organisers.
Mary Kom on Thursday and Lovlina Borgohain on Friday fought in uniforms which neither featured their names nor identified their countries at the back of their vests. “It was a bit unsettling that they asked me to change my uniform just five minutes before the bout. In fact, at that time my name had been announced,” Mary Kom told PTI, still agitated about the 2-3 pre-quarterfinal loss in which she won two of the three rounds but fell short by a point in the final scoreline.
“I think it was deliberate action to disturb me because I had fought my first round with similar gear with Mary Kom and India written on it,” she said. A conversation with Indian Boxing’s High Performance Director Santiago Nieva and a look at the International Olympic Committee’s rules threw some light at what exactly might have caused this little storm in a tea cup. “The boxers are allowed to wear their last names or the given name on vest, so if it was just Kom at the back, there would not have been a problem or just Mangte would have been fine too.
“She was not allowed to wear Mary Kom. Same with Lovlina, she needed to have Borgohain on the back,” Nieva explained.