Born in the Khangati Village of Manipur,where very girl only wished for marriage, Mary Kom dared to dream. It is her dream that keeps her still going. Nicknamed as Magnificent Mary, Mary Kom was born on 24th November 1982
As a kid Mary Kom was always interested in all kind of sports. She played football , volleyball and athletics. She was very fond of marathon and volleyball. But when Dingko Singh, a fellow Manipuri returned with a gold medal from 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, Mary kom took inspiration from him. She was so enthralled that she decided to learn boxing.
At the age of 15, she left her hometown to study at Sports Academy in the state capital , Imphal. After that she won the state level boxing championship. She hid her love for boxing from her father. Her father never supported her for boxing as he was afraid that she might hurt her face and would not find a man to marry. When her father show the picture of Mary Kom on newspaper in 2000 after her win, he was furious. It was only after 3 years later, that he grew to accept Mary Kom’s love for boxing.
Today, Mary Kom is the only female to win the World Amateur Boxing Championship for six times. She is also the only boxer ( male or female) with eight World Championship. She has many titles in her name and has also been ranked no. 1 female light – flyweight by International Boxing Association. She also represented India in Olympics in 2012 and bagged a bronze home . Her list of achievements goes on and on.
Mary Kom was married in 2005 and has 3 children. She is currently representing India in Tokyo Olympics 2020. Many Indian women after being married leave all the dreams behind, but Mary was never one of those. She is inspiration for many, especially women. She is the definition of “Will Power”.
