I have not resigned, will complete tenure: Mary Kom denies quitting IOA panel

Mary Kom denies quitting IOA panel. (PTI Photo)

The Indian Olympic Association's athletes commission chairperson and boxing legend M C Mary Kom on Tuesday denied reports that she has resigned from her position, insisting that she has been misunderstood and will complete her tenure in the panel.

The 42-year-old Manipuri, who is also a 2012 Olympics bronze-winner, had travelled to Haldwani for the National Games closing ceremony last week where she expressed her displeasure over being lodged at an "inferior hotel".

Speaking to PTI, Mary Kom said her outburst in a private WhatsApp group was misconstrued and leaked to the media as resignation.

"I have not resigned, I will complete my tenure (which ends in 2026)," she asserted.

"I was merely telling my fellow (athletes commission) members that if this kind of treatment happens again, I will consider resigning. I never said that I am resigning. IOA is my family and if I am unhappy over something, I have every right to express it."

"This does not mean that I am resigning," she went on.

Mary Kom was elected to the panel in 2022 with table tennis stalwart A Sharath Kamal as vice-chairperson.

"Whoever has leaked the private conversation in the WhatsApp group of Athletes Commission has not done the right thing. I don't know who has done it. I am hurt but I want to close this matter because IOA is my family," she later said at the IOA Bhawan.

"I have no ill feelings towards anybody who has leaked the conversation but I want the IOA and the sports ministry to find out who has leaked it. I want to serve the country's sport and don't want a controversy which I had not created," she added.

The commission also features two-time Olympic medal-winning shuttler PV Sindhu, former shot putter Om Prakash Karhana, Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan, London Olympics bronze-winning shooter Gagan Narang, rower Bajrang Lal, fencer Bhavani Devi, former women''s hockey captain Rani Rampal, and Tokyo Olympics silver-winning weightlifter Mirabai Chanu.

"I don't know why is it that every time I raise my voice for something, it is misunderstood like this? Lot of my fellow athletes speak their mind on so many issues but nobody gets misunderstood," Mary Kom said.

"Where is the resignation? Has anyone seen it?" she asked.

One of the most decorated Indian athletes, Mary Kom has been on the athletes forum of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the past and has a fairly good experience of the administrative side of sports.

She has also been taken on board for various government panels and was a Rajya Sabha member from 2016 to 2022.