MC Mary Kom, 40, Makes U-Turn On Retirement From Boxing; Clarifies Statement

Mary achieved a historic feat as the first female boxer in the history of the sport to secure six world titles. As a five-time Asian champion, she also made history by becoming the first female boxer from India to claim a gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games.

MC Mary Kom. (Image: X)

The legendary MC Mary Kom is not retired yet. She spoke to media about being misquoted by many news websites and papers. Mary Kom is legend of Indian boxing and some of her key achievements include winning World Championship title a record six times and also finishing with an Olympic medal in 2012. At a school event in Manipur, Mary hinted her retirement and said she would have loved to carry on for some more years as she still has hunger to excel at the elite level of women's boxing. But the champion athlete said that she can no more play at the elite level due to a new age rule introduced by International Boxing Association (IBA).

"I have the hunger still but unfortunately because of the age limit it is over I cannot compete in any competition. I want to play more but I am being forced to quit (due to the age limit). I have to retire. I have achieved everything in my life," Mary said during an event. Her statement hints of retirement but now Mary says that she is yet to announce it officially.

"Dear Friends from media, I haven’t announced retirement yet and I have been misquoted. I will personally come in front of media whenever I want to announce it. I have gone through some media reports stating that I have announced retirement and this is not true. I was attending a school in event in Dibrugarh on 24 January 2024 wherein I was motivating children and I said “I still have hunger of achieving in sports but age limit in Olympics doesn’t allow me to participate though i can carry on with my sport. I am still focusing on my fitness and whenever I will announce retirement I will inform everyone," said Mary Kom.

Mary is the first female boxer in boxing history to have captured six world titles. The five-time Asian champion was the first female boxer from India to take home a gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games. One other top achievement of her career is the bronze medal she clinched at the 2012 London Olympics.

Mary's journey inside the boxing ring began when she was just 18. She played at the world meet in Scranton, Russia and although she lost the 48kg final, her debut showed she was a shining future star of world boxing. She went on to become the first Indian to win a gold medal at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships. She also won the world titles in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010 editions. 

Not to forget, she took two long breaks due to pregnancy but returned every time with a bang. She delivered twins in 2008 and then her third child after winning the 2012 bronze in London.