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India's boxing queen Mary Kom (right) will miss this year's Commonwealth Games after limping out of the ring in a trial event, but her coach on Monday said she will "make a comeback".
The six-time world champion, who turns 40 in November, twisted her left knee at India's Commonwealth Games boxing trials last weekend, meaning she will miss the Games beginning next month in Birmingham, England.
According to reports, the veteran who won a bronze medal at the London Olympics in 2012, lost her footing in the first round of her 48kg semi-final against two-time Youth Olympics champion Ritu Ghanghas.
Kom reportedly fell trying to duck a punch and had to be carried from the ring.
She shrieked in agony and was seen clutching her knee, before limping out of the K. D. Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi.
"I have never had a knee injury before," she was quoted by the Times of India as saying before being taken to hospital.
Kom's long-time coach Chhote Lal Yadav said: "She's in a lot of pain. The swelling will take 10-15 days to subside. But she still says she will make a comeback."
Yadav said "Magnificent Mary" will need surgery on the knee.
"It's heartbreaking. But it is destiny, it's God's will," said Yadav.
"The medical advice we have received is for her to undergo surgery. But we are consulting other doctors as well for the best solution possible."
Kom later underwent a scan which revealed a "complete tear of ACL". The doctor treating her suggested a reconstruction surgery.
Kom has been prescribed "ice application and knee support" for now on top of her medication which includes painkillers, an olympics.com report said.
Kom became India's first woman boxer to win a Commonwealth Games gold in 2018.
The boxer from a humble background in the remote north-eastern state of Manipur, also won five Asian championships and the Asian Games gold in 2014 in a career spanning more than two decades.
The severity of the injury comes as a big blow for Kom, who is in the twilight of her career.
Despite her considerable prowess, the veteran boxer's days in the ring are numbered and at her age, an injury will be a huge setback.
"I am struggling to come to terms with it. It's devastating," Kom told New Indian Express.
While the odds and age may not be in her favour, Kom believes she is far from done with boxing and still has what it takes to make a comeback.
"I still feel I have one or two years of boxing left in me," she declared.
"I am sure I will get back to my old form. I am consulting specialists and after that we (my team) will draw up a plan for rehabilitation.
"I can fight my way out of this. I will make a comeback again."
AFP, Indo-Asian News Service
