Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom - World Amateur Boxing champion
Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom (born 1 March 1983[1]) is an
Indian amateur boxer and incumbent Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.
Mary Kom is the only female to become World Amateur Boxing
champion for a record six times, the only female boxer to have won a medal in
each one of the first seven World Championships, and the only boxer (male or
female) to win eight World Championship medals.
Nicknamed Magnificent Mary, she is the only
Indian female boxer to have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing
in the flyweight (51 kg) category and winning a bronze medal. She had also been ranked as the world's No. 1
female light-flyweight by AIBA. She
became the first Indian female boxer to win a gold medal in the Asian Games in
2014 at Incheon, South Korea and is the first Indian female boxer to win gold at
the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Mary Com is also
the only boxer to become Asian Amateur Boxing Champion for a record six times.
On 25 April 2016, the President of India nominated Mary Kom as a
member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. In March 2017, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports, Government of India, appointed Mary Kom along with Akhil Kumar as national
observers for boxing.
After her 6th world title in 2018, the Government of Manipur
has conferred on her the title "Meethoi Leima", loosely translated as great or exceptional
lady in a felicitation ceremony held in Imphal on 11 December 2018. At the
function, the Chief Minister of Manipur also declared that the stretch of
road leading to the National Games village in Imphal West district, where Mary Kom
currently resides, would be named as MC Mary Kom Road. She was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's 2nd highest civilian award, in 2020.
Early Life
Mary Kom was born in Kangathei village, Moirang Lamkhai in
Churachandpur district of rural Manipur in India. She came from a poor
family. Her parents, Mangte Tonpa Kom and Mangte Akham Kom were tenant farmers
who worked in jhum fields.
They named her Chungneijang. Mary Kom grew up in humble surroundings, helping her
parents with farm related chores, going to school and learning athletics
initially and later boxing simultaneously. Kom's father was a keen wrestler in
his younger days. She was the eldest of three children – she has a younger sister
and brother.
Mary Kom studied at the Loktak Christian Model High School at
Moirang up to her sixth standard and thereafter attended St. Xavier Catholic
School, Moirang, up to class VIII. During this time, she took a good amount of
interest in athletics, especially javelin and 400 metres running. It was at
this juncture, Dingko Singh, a fellow Manipuri returned from the 1998 Bangkok
Asian games with a gold medal. Kom recollects that this had inspired many
youngsters in Manipur to try boxing, and she too thought of giving it a try. After
standard VIII, Kom moved to Adimjati High School, Imphal, for her schooling for
class IX and X, but was unable to pass the matriculation exam. Not wishing to
reappear for them, she quit her school and gave her examination from NIOS,
Imphal and graduation from Churachandpur College.
In school, Mary Kom participated in all types of sports including
volleyball, football and athletics. It was the success of Dingko Singh that
inspired her to switch from athletics to boxing in 2000. She started her
training under her first coach K. Kosana Meitei in Imphal.
When Mary Kom was 15 she
took the decision to leave her hometown to study at the Sports academy in the
state capital Imphal. In an interview
with the BBC, Meitei remembered her as a dedicated hardworking girl with a
strong will power, who picked up the basics of boxing quickly. Thereafter she
trained under the Manipur State Boxing Coach M. Narjit Singh, at Khuman Lampak,
Imphal.
Mary Kom kept her interest in boxing
a secret from her father, himself an ex-wrestler, as he was concerned that
boxing would hurt Kom's face and spoil her chances of marriage. However, he
learnt of it when Kom's photo appeared in a newspaper after she won the state
boxing championship in 2000. After three years, her father began to support
Kom's pursuits in boxing as he grew convinced of her love of boxing.
Career
After her marriage, Mary Kom took a short hiatus from
boxing. After she and Onler had their first two children, Mary Kom again started
training. 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, Mary 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 5th consecutive gold at the championship. She competed in Barbados in the
48 kg weight category, after AIBA had stopped using the 46 kg class. In the
2010 Asian Games, she competed in the 51 kg class and won a bronze medal. In
2011, she won gold in the 48 kg class at the Asian Women's Cup in China.
On 3 October 2010, Mary Kom, along with Sanjay and Harshit Jain,
had the honour of bearing the Queen's Baton in its opening ceremony run in the
stadium for the 2010 Commonwealth Games of Delhi. She did not compete, however,
as women's boxing was not included in the Commonwealth Games.
On 1 October 2014, Mary Kom won her first Gold Medal at the Asian
games held at Incheon, South Korea by beating Kazakhstan’s Zhaina Shekerbekova
in the flyweight (51 kg) summit clash.
On 8 November 2017, she clinched an unprecedented fifth gold
medal (48 kg) at the ASBC Asian Confederation women's boxing championships held
at Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam.
The only major international event, that she had not seen a
medal before was in CommonWealth Games, as her category Light flyweight was
never included in the games till 2018 Commonwealth Games where as expected she
earned the gold medal gracefully in the Women's light flyweight 48 kg on 14
April 2018.
On 24 November 2018, Mary Kom created history by becoming the
first woman to win 6 World Championships, achieving this feat at the 10th AIBA
Women's World Boxing Championships held in New Delhi, India.
In October 2019, International Olympic Committee (IOC) named
her as a female representative of boxing's athlete ambassadors group for the
2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Olympic Games
Mary Kom, who had previously fought in the 46 and 48 kg
categories, shifted to the 51 kg category after the world body decided to allow
women's boxing in only three weight categories eliminating the lower weight
classes.
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, but did succeed in getting a bronze medal. She was the only Indian woman to
qualify for boxing event, with Laishram Sarita Devi narrowly missing a place in
the 60 kg class.
Mary Kom was accompanied to London by her mother. Kom's coach
Charles Atkinson could not join her at the Olympic Village as he didn't possess
an International Boxing Association (AIBA) 3 Star Certification, which is
mandatory for accreditation. She had all her luggage and passport stolen on the
way to the selection camp in Bangkok, Thailand for her first Asian Women's
Boxing Championships.
The first Olympic round was held on 5 August 2012, with Mary 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 an Olympic
bronze medal.
In recognition, the
Manipur Government awarded her Rs 50 lakhs and two acres of land in a cabinet
meeting held on 9 August 2012.
Though keen on representing India at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Mary
Kom was not able to qualify for the event. She continues to pursue the sport
and train for the same, and is preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Achievements:-
|
International Titles
|
||||
|
Year
|
Place
|
Weight
|
Competition
|
Location
|
|
2001
|
2
|
48
|
AIBA Women's World Championships
|
Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA
|
|
2002
|
1
|
45
|
AIBA Women's World Championships
|
Antalya, Turkey
|
|
2002
|
1
|
45
|
Witch Cup
|
Pecs, Hungary
|
|
2003
|
1
|
46
|
Asian Women's Championships
|
Hisar, India
|
|
2004
|
1
|
41
|
Women's World Cup
|
Tønsberg, Norway
|
|
2005
|
1
|
46
|
Asian Women's Championships
|
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
|
|
2005
|
1
|
46
|
AIBA Women's World Championships
|
Podolsk, Russia
|
|
2006
|
1
|
46
|
AIBA
Women's World Championships
|
New Delhi, India
|
|
2006
|
1
|
46
|
Venus Women's Box Cup
|
Vejle, Denmark
|
|
2008
|
1
|
46
|
AIBA
Women's World Championships
|
Ningbo, China
|
|
2008
|
2
|
46
|
Asian Women's Championships
|
Guwahati, India
|
|
2009
|
1
|
46
|
Asian Indoor Games
|
Hanoi, Vietnam
|
|
2010
|
1
|
48
|
AIBA
Women's World Championships
|
Bridgetown,
Barbados
|
|
2010
|
1
|
46
|
Asian Women's Championships
|
Astana, Kazakhstan
|
|
2010
|
3
|
51
|
Asian
Games
|
Guangzhou, China
|
|
2011
|
1
|
48
|
Asian Women's Cup
|
Haikou, China
|
|
2012
|
1
|
41
|
Asian Women's Championships
|
Ulan Bator,
Mongolia
|
|
2012
|
3
|
51
|
Summer Olympics
|
London, United Kingdom
|
|
2014
|
1
|
51
|
Asian Games
|
Incheon, South Korea
|
|
2017
|
1
|
48
|
Asian Women's Championships
|
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
|
|
2018
|
1
|
45–48
|
Commonwealth Games
|
Gold Coast,
Queensland, Australia
|
|
2018
|
1
|
45–48
|
AIBA
Women's World Championships
|
New Delhi, India
|
|
2019
|
3
|
51
|
2019
AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships
|
Ulan-Ude, Russia
|
National
- Gold – 1st Women Nat. Boxing Championship, Chennai 6–12.2.2001
- The East Open Boxing Champ, Bengal 11–14 December 2001
- 2nd Sr World Women Boxing Championship, New Delhi 26–30 December 2001
- National Women Sort Meet, N. Delhi 26–30 December 2001
- 32nd National Games, Hyderabad 2002
- 3rd Sr World Women Boxing Champ, Aizawl 4–8.3.2003
- 4th Sr WWBC, Kokrajar, Assam 24–28 February 2004
- 5th Sr WWBC, Kerala 26–30 December 2004
- 6th Sr WWBC, Jamshedpur 29 November-3.12.2005
- 10th WNBC, Jamshedpur lost QF by 1–4 on 5 October 2009
Awards and recognitions
Mary Kom set a new standard in amateur boxing without ever
competing in professional boxing. In 2015, Kom became the first amateur to
surpass several professional athletes in India in earnings, endorsements and
awards. She is the first amateur athlete to win the Padma Bhushan.
National awards
- Padma Vibhushan (Sports), 2020
- Padma Bhushan (Sports), 2013
- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, 2009
- Padma Shri (Sports), 2006
- Arjuna Award (Boxing), 2003
Other awards and recognition
- The International Boxing Association (AIBA) awarded Mary Kom with the first AIBA Legends awards for "promising boxing career"
- The International Boxing Association (AIBA) announced Mary Kom as the brand ambassador for 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships
- People of the Year- Limca Book of Records, 2007
- CNN-IBN & Reliance Industries' Real Heroes Award 14.4. 2008
- Pepsi MTV Youth Icon 2008
- ‘Magnificent Mary’, AIBA 2008
- International Boxing Association's Ambassador for Women's Boxing 2009 (TSE 30 July 2009 Thur)
- Sportswoman of the year 2010, Sahara Sports Award
- Olympians for Life by WOA.
- Honorary Doctorate degree (D.Litt) from North-Eastern Hill University on 29 March 2016 and (DPhil) from Kaziranga University on 14 January 2019
For the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics
- ₹5 million (US$70,000) cash award and two acres of land from the Manipur Government
- ₹2.5 million (US$35,000) cash award from the Rajasthan Governments
- ₹2 million (US$28,000) cash award from the Assam Government
- ₹1 million (US$14,000) cash award from the Arunachal Pradesh Government
- ₹1 million (US$14,000) cash award from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (India)
- ₹4 million (US$56,000) cash award from the North Eastern Council
- 'Meethoileima' title, Manipur Govt. (2018)
Personal Life
Mary Kom is married to the footballer Karung Onkholer (Onler). Kom first met her husband in 2000 after her
luggage was stolen while travelling by train to Bangalore. In New Delhi while
on her way to the National Games in Punjab she met Onkholer who was studying
law at Delhi University. Onkholer was the president of the North East students
body and helped Kom. They became friends and thereafter began dating each
other. After four years they were married in 2005.
Together they have three sons, twins born in 2007, and another
son born in 2013.
Association with social causes
Mary Kom is an animal rights activist, and supporter of PETA
India, starring in an ad to call for an end to the use of elephants in
circuses. "Circuses are cruel places for animals where they are beaten and
tortured. As a mother, I can imagine what animals go through when their
children are taken away from them to forcefully perform in circuses. It's
sad," Kom has been quoted in the media.
Kom has also backed PETA India's humane education campaign,
Compassionate Citizen. She has written a letter to the education ministers of
states and union territories across India requesting that the programme be
incorporated into official school curriculums. In an interview in the Times of
India she was quoted as saying, "One of the best ways to knock out cruelty
to animals is to teach compassion to young people. Animals need us in their
corner. With violence seemingly all around us, it is more important than ever
that we teach lessons of respect and kindness in the classroom."
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