[Lifestyle] Mary Kom – Biography, Achievements, Personal Life, Images

[-Sethu]

Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom also known as MC Mary Kom is an Indian Professional boxer. And with all her achievements in her career of boxing, she has also got the nickname of Magnificent Mary. All of Mary Kom Biography is about winning awards and being the first female player or the first player to make many world level records. She is also a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament along with Akhil Kumar as an observer for boxing. Other than this Mary Kom is the first Indian female to win a gold medal in the Asian Games and her Images vent completely viral after this win. And also became the world number 1 in light-flyweight boxing in the rankings done by AIBA.

Life as a Child
Kom was born on the 1st of March 1983, in a rural district of Manipur. And her family was very poor as they were farmers. Kom lived her life as a child by helping her parents on the farms as well as at home. She was into sports from a very early age and was an athlete in her school days. Her interest in sports came from her father who himself was a wrestler in his younger days.

A few years later, she shifted to Imphal the capital city of Manipur to complete her class 10th. But she failed and did not wish to reappear for exams. And further graduated from college after giving the NIOS exam. Her interest shifted towards boxing only in 2000, at the age of 17 after looking at the success of Dingko Singh. She then started training for boxing but kept it a secret from her own father. Because he believed that boxing would spoil MC Mary Kom’s face and reduce her chances of getting married. As in rural India back in the days getting married was the most important thing in a girl’s life.

Her father later came to know about her love for boxing when Images of Mary Kom were printed in the newspapers. After her win at the State Boxing Championship 2000, which was her first award as a boxer. It took Mary Kom a couple of years to convince her father, but she did and he started supporting her.

The Career of MC Mary Kom
Kom started her journey by going step by step. She reached the International Level in the year 2001 and continued to represent her nation. But after marriage, Mary Kom was not seen in the boxing arena for a long period of time because she was busy being a mother to her Twins born in 20007. She started playing again after she had her first two kids. And has been playing ever since. She has taken time off due to injuries and personal life. But Mary Kom has never disappointed Indians and has made sure the Indian Flag remains high as always by winning medals, trophies, and Awards for India.

National-Level Achievements of Kom
The Biography of MC Mary Kom as an Indian Professional Boxing player only started when she started playing at the national level. She though after playing at the international level still plays in the tournaments held at the national level.

She won her first Gold in 2001 as the Women Boxing Champion of India. Followed by winning the East Open Boxing Champ later in the same year. MC Mary Kom also won the title of Sr World Women Boxing Champ (WWBC) five times in her entire career out of the six she played. The winning editions were the 2nd (2001), 3rd (2003), 4th (2004), 5th (2004), 6th (2005). She lost the 10th edition in 2009 at the quarter-final stage in Jamshedpur.

Mary Kom also won the National Women Sort Meet in New Delhi 2001 and also won the National Games in the year 2002 held in Hyderabad. All her achievements have become an example for the ladies from the rural part of the nation to come forward and express themselves in different fields to lead a successful life.

Kom in Olympic Games
Mary Kom was a part of the 2012 Olympic Games were Women’s Boxing started for the first time. She had to also change her weight category to get qualified for the Olympic Games. Except for the weight gain she also had to face a lot of obstacles, just to represent Indians in the Olympic Games.

She had to travel all alone to Thailand, Bangkok for the qualifiers. Where she lost her wallet along with her passports and other necessary documents. After a selection, she was accompanied by her mother to the London Olympics. Where she became the first Indian woman to win the bronze medal in Boxing. She was also awarded cash prizes as a token of appreciation from the Government of India and her State Government. This is one of the biggest achievements of Mary Kom in her Biography.

Kom in Asian Events
The Biography of Mary Kom is filled with Awards and achievements in the Asian Events. Which include the Asian Championship, Asian Games, and the Asian Indoor Games. The first Asian Championship Medal came in Hisar, India. Where she won a gold medal in the Pin weight category.

Further, in the Asian Women’s Championships held across the Asian countries, she kept on winning a Gold medal for her nation for the years 2005, 2010, 2012, and 2017. But in the event held in 2008 in Guwahati, India she had to settle with a Silver Medal when she lost to Jong Ok again in the pin weight category.

MC Mary Kom was also part of the Asian Games both indoor and outdoors. And has made her country proud in both fields. Her first Asian Game medal came in an Indoor tournament held in Hanoi in 2009 where she won a Gold medal again in the category of pin weight. After this, she won a bronze in 2010 and a gold in 2014 in the category of a flyweight.

Mary Kom in World Championships
To date, MC Mary Kom has been in a winning spot eight times. Out of which two spots were for a bronze medal and a silver medal. And the rest of the times she has won 6 World Championships Titles. Starting from the year 2001, where she had to settle with a silver medal at the AIBA Women’s World Championship for the first time held at Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

She secured the title of AIBA Women’s World Championship in the next edition of 2002 in Turkey. After that, she played five editions of the same World Championships and kept on defending her title as the World Championships held across the globe. The editions that she won were 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2018. In her last World Championship edition, she had to settle for a Bronze in 2019. Where she lost the semi-final to a Turkish player Buse Naz.

Other than this, she has also won the Women’s World Cup once in the year 2004. And a Gold Medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 held in Queensland, Australia. Though her category of playing kept on changing with the change in the norms of AIBA. During the starting of her career she played under the Pin Weight category, but after its merger in 2010 where the weight categories were changed. She had to shift to the Fly Weight category.

Awards Received by Mary Kom
For the pride that Kom has brought to her nation. Her efforts have been appreciated by the Indian Government and have been awarded various different honors. Other than that, her efforts have also been appreciated by the different International Sports council including the AIBA (The International Boxing Association). Below is a list of all her awards.

Arjuna Award for Boxing in 2003
Padma Shri in the category of sports in 2006
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2009
Padma Bhushan in the category of sports in 2013
Padma Vibhushan in the category of sports in 2020
AIBA first ‘promising boxing career’
Brand ambassador for 2016 AIBA World’s Women Boxing Championship
AIBA 2008 ‘Magnificent Mary’
Sahar Sports Award ‘Sportswoman of the year 2010’
Olympians for Life by WOA

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