MC Mary Kom says she never sought Shiva Thapa's ouster from Target Olympic Podium Scheme

New Delhi: Olympic bronze-medallist and five-time world champion MC Mary Kom on Sunday denied reports that she had sought top men’s boxer Shiva Thapa’s ouster from the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) during a meeting of the national observers. Reacting to a report that she had sought Thapa’s removal from TOPS, Mary Kom issued a statement to deny having made any such remark at the meeting which took place on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_3846147” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Shiva Thapa. Getty[/caption] “The article states that I have termed Shiva Thapa’s career as over and he would do nothing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This is completely fabricated and it borders on being defamatory,” Mary Kom said in her statement. “Let me put this on record, I have never said anything like Shiva’s career being over and he should be dropped from the TOP scheme,” she added. “Playing with the reputation of a hardworking boxer using falsehood is not acceptable to me.” The 23-year-old Thapa is currently preparing for the World Championships, where he won a bronze medal in 2015, at a training trip in France. He recently won a silver medal at the Asian Championships in Tashkent. Mary Kom also denied saying that former Commonwealth Games Manoj Kumar was past his prime. The 30-year-old Manoj has also qualified for the World Championships to held from 25 September in Hamburg. “I would categorically like to state that I have never used the term “overage” for Manoj Kumar as has been stated by the unnamed source quoted,” she stated. “…This kind of stories without proper verification of facts is tantamount to playing with my reputation,” she added. Mary Kom is one of the two national observers appointed by the Sports Ministry for boxing, other being former CWG gold medallist Akhil Kumar.