Mary Kom is a diamond: Coach Charles Atkinson

PUNE: As she shadow-boxes in the ring, the cameras go on a shooting spree and move fast around the stage for the best shot. The lensmen's reaction is so much on cue that it's as if she is punching them, not the air.
Life has been like that for Mary Kom. The 29-year-old mother of two from Manipur has had to overcome several barriers on her way to becoming a world champion, not once but five times.
"If she was in England, she would have been a star," says Mary's personal coach Charles Atkinson.
As a professional boxer, and as one who has coached and managed several champions, especially those from Thailand, the 71-year-old Atkinson knows what he says.
"It is not because of what she is going to achieve, but what she has done already, because of how she has lived her life and her attitude to life. As far as India's concerned, she is a diamond.
"I have travelled a bit. Mary has as much charisma as any of the champions I have seen."