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Tuesday, 23 December 2014

Mary Kom - The First Indian Boxer

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Mary Kom is an Indian Boxer
Personal information
Full name : Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom
Born : 1 March 1983
Kangathei, Manipur, India
Residence : Imphal, Manipur, India
Spouse (s) : K (Karung) Onkholer Kom
Sport
Country : India
Sport : Boxing (Rated at 46kg, 48kg, 51kg)
Coached by : M. Narjit Singh, Charles Atkinson
Medal record
Indian Women's boxing
Summer Olympics
Bronze : 2012 London - Flyweight (51kg)
World Amateur Boxing Championships
Gold : 2010 Bridgetown - 48 kg
Gold : 2008 Ningbo City - 46 kg
Gold : 2006 New Delhi - 46 kg
Gold : 2005 Podolsk - 46 kg
Gold : 2002 Antalya - 45 kg
Silver : 2001 Scranton - 45 kg
Asian Women's Boxing Championship
Gold : 2012 Ulaanbaatar - Flyweight
Gold : 2010 Astana - Flyweight
Gold : 2005 Kaohsiung - Pinweight
Gold : 2003 Hissar - Pinweight
Silver : 2008 Guwahati - Pinweight
Asian Games
Bronze : 2010 Guangzhou - Flyweight
Gold : 2014 Incheon - Flyweight
Indoor Asian Games
Gold : 2009 Hanoi - Pinweight
Asian Cup Women's Boxing Tournament
Gold : 2011 Haikou - 48 kg
Witch Cup
Gold : 2002 Pécs - Pinweight
Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom (born 1 March 1983), also known as MC Mary Kom, Magnificent Mary or simply Mary Kom, is an Indian boxer. She is a five-time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. She is the only Indian woman boxer to have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing in the flyweight (51 kg) category and winning the bronze medal. She has also been ranked as No. 4 AIBA World Women's Ranking Flyweight category

She launched her much-awaited autobiography, Unbreakable, at the Forum Mall in Bangalore on 11 Dec '13. Mary Kom also has started India's first female-only fight club at Imphal to teach thousands of girls to defend themselves against sexual violence in India.

Personal life
Mary Kom was born in Kangathei, in Churachandpur district of Manipur. Her parents, Mangte Tonpa Kom and Mangte Akham Kom, worked in jhum fields. She completed her primary education from Loktak Christian Model High School, Moirang, up to her class VI standard and attended St. Xavier Catholic School, Moirang, up to class VIII. She then moved to Adimjati High School, Imphal, for her schooling for class IX and X, but could not pass her exam. She did not want to reappear for her exams so she quit her school and gave her examination from NIOS, Imphal and graduation from Churachandpur College.

Although she had a keen interest in athletics from childhood, it was the success of Dingko Singh that inspired her to become a boxer in 2000. She started her training under the close eye of M. Narjit Singh, Manipur State Boxing Coach at Khuman Lampak,Imphal.

Return to boxing
After an eight-year break, she won a silver medal at the 2008 Asian Women's Boxing Championship in India and a fourth successive gold medal at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship in China, followed by a gold medal at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam.

In 2010, Kom won the gold medal at the Asian Women's Boxing Championship in Kazakhstan, and at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship in Barbados, her fifth consecutive gold at the championship. She competed in Barbados in the 48 kg weight class, after AIBA had stopped using the 46 kg class. In the 2010 Asian Games, she competed in the 51 kg class - the lowest in the contest - and won a bronze medal. In 2011, she won gold in the 48 kg class at the Asian Women's Cup in China, and in 2012 took the gold medal in the 51 kg class at the Asian Women's Boxing Championship in Mongolia.

Olympic Games
Mary, a five-time world champion, had won several medals in the 46 and 48 kg categories. She was forced to shift to this category and gain weight two years ago after the world body decided to allow women’s boxing in only three weight categories—the lowest one being 51 kg.

At the 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship, Kom was competing not just for the championship itself but also for a place at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the first time women's boxing had featured as an Olympic sport. She was defeated in the 51 kg semi-finals by Nicola Adams of the UK (to whom she would eventually lose in the semifinal of the London 2012 Olympic Games as well), making this the first year since the championship began that Kom did not win a medal, but did succeed in getting a place for the Olympics. She was the only Indian woman to qualify for boxing event, with Laishram Sarita Devi narrowly missing a place in the 60 kg class.

The first Olympic round was held on 5 August 2012, with Kom defeating Karolina Michalczuk of Poland 19-14 in the third women's boxing match ever to be fought at the Olympics. In the quarter-final, the following day, she defeated Maroua Rahali of Tunisia with a score of 15-6. She faced Nicola Adams of UK in the semi-final on 8 August 2012 and lost the bout 6 points to 11. However, she stood third in the competition and garnered her first olympic Bronze medal. Manipur Government decided to award Rs 5 million and two acres of land to Kom in the cabinet meeting held on 9 August 2012. She carried the Indian tricolour during the closing ceremony of the 2012 summer Olympics in London.


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