Boxing star Mary Kom turned 38 today. The champion, who started playing the sport of boxing when she was 15 years old, is a world-famous boxing player today. A member of parliament in Rajya Sabha, Mary is also the national observer for boxing. She comes from a village called Kangathei in Manipur and has a younger sister and brother. Called ‘Magnificent Mary’, she briefly stopped boxing practice after her marriage, however, after the birth of her children, she again started practicing the sport.
There are several awards and achievements attached to Mary’s name. On her birthday, here are some of the important achievements of the boxing champion:
1. She is the first Indian woman boxer who won an Asian Games title. Mary won the gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games held at South Korean city of Incheon.
2.Mary is the only Indian female boxer who has qualified and won a bronze medal in the flyweight category at the 2012 Summer Olympics held at London, United Kingdom.
3.In World Championships, Mary has won a total of eight medals. She is the first and only boxer in the world (in both male and female categories) to have this achievement.
4.She grabbed the World Amateur Boxing champion title six times and is the only female boxer in the world to have achieved this.
5.The boxing champion is the first Indian female boxer who has bagged a gold medal at Commonwealth Games. She won it during the 2018 edition of the Games held at Queensland’s Gold Coast in Australia.
6. The International Boxing Association (amateur) has ranked her as the world’s number 1 in women’s light-flyweight ranking.
7. Mary’s achievements are not only on the field but also off the field. She is the first woman sportsperson who has won a Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour. Mary was given this award in 2020.