- published: 31 Jul 2014
- views: 2559956
Mangte Chungneijang Merykom, also known as MC Mary Kom or Mary Kom, (born 1 March 1983) is a boxer from Manipur, India. Mary Kom, a mother of two, is a five time successive World Boxing champion, a biennial amateur boxing competition organised by the International Boxing Association (AIBA). She is the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six World Championships. She came back from a two-year sabbatical to clinch her fourth successive World Amateur boxing gold in 2008, a feat that prompted the AIBA to describe her as 'Magnificent Mary'. She was earlier an athlete and switched to boxing after the success of fellow Manipur boxer Dingko Singh.
On Sep 18 2010, Mary Kom won the World Boxing Championship title in Bridgetown, Barbados for the fifth consecutive time. She defeated Romanian opponent Steluta Duta by a points difference of 16 to 6. In its successful mission to make women's boxing an Olympics programme, AIBA selected Mary as one of its three brand ambassadors in 2009. Mary, who always participated in light flyweight category, had to switch over flyweight as her usual weight category was not included in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is the only Indian woman boxer who has qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the quota she achieved in the 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships after reaching to the quarter-final, where she lost to world number two Nicola Adams of England.