Mary Kom is one of the most prominent sportspersons in India and the first sitting member of Parliament to win a medal at a major event. (Source: AP)
Mary Kom added to her long list of accolades the Commonwealth Games gold medal on Saturday. It was the first time that the veteran boxer was fighting at the CWG and was the one missing medal from her cabinet. Mary Kom is one of the most decorated amateur boxers in the sport’s history. Since winning the Manipur state boxing championship in 2000 to now, Mary Kom has gone on to become one of the most prominent sportspersons in India.
Mary’s first major medal was a silver at the 2001 World Championship, the first time the tournament was held for women boxers. She followed that up with a gold at the 2002 World Championship gold in Antalya, Turkey and that was the first of five successive that she won at the Worlds. She also won the Asian Women’s Boxing Championship in 2003, 2005, 2010 and 2017 and won silver in 2008. In 2008, Mary won gold at the Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi. Her first Asian Games medal came at Guangzhou 2010 when she won bronze. She followed that up with a gold at the 2014 Incheon games, the first ever for an Indian woman boxer.
The biggest moment of her career, though, came in 2012 when she won bronze at the London Olympics. It was the first time that amateur women’s boxing was introduced in the Games.
Mary Kom became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 2016. With her gold at the Commonwealth Games, she is now the first sitting Member of Parliament to have win a medal at any major games.