HMANGTE Chungneijang Mery Kom

Olympic qualifying results
She secured a spot for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo through her performance in the flyweight category at the 2020 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Amman, Jordan. (indiatoday.in, 09 Mar 2020)

General
CHANGE OF WEIGHT CLASS
In 2019 she made the switch from light flyweight to flyweight following the removal of the light flyweight category from the boxing programme for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "I have been training with girls who are stronger and taller than me. This is not the first time for me in the 51kg. I have won gold at the 2014 Asian Games [in Incheon] and bronze in 2019 [World Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation] in that weight category." (news18.com, 28 Sep 2019)

EARLY DAYS
She was initially prevented from taking up boxing by her parents, who thought that she might seriously injure herself. "Since my childhood, I was very passionate about boxing. But in my village, women were never encouraged to pursue a career in sports. My family told me that I could take up any sport, except for boxing. They would tell me that they had seen boxing matches on TV and they were really scared. I explained to them about the rules and regulations of the sport and managed to convince them after a very long time." (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 08 Feb 2018)

LIFE STORY
A biographical film about her sports career titled 'Mary Kom' was released in September 2014. It was directed by Omung Kumar and starred Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, who played the leading role. In December 2013 a biography about her life titled 'Unbreakable' was published. (deccanchronicle.com, 15 Sep 2014; indiatimes.com, 12 Sep 2014)

POLITICIAN
She has served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament of India. (Twitter profile, 03 Apr 2020)

AMBASSADOR
She has served as an athlete ambassador on the International Olympic Committee [IOC] Boxing Task Force [BTF]. (insidethegames.biz, 16 Feb 2021)

In 2018 she became the first female boxer to win six gold medals at the world championships. Her victory in the light flyweight category at the 2018 edition of the tournament in New Delhi, India, followed on from her world titles in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2010. Her victory in the pinweight category at the 2002 edition of the tournament in Antalya, Turkey, made her the first Indian female boxer to win a gold medal at the world championships. (SportsDeskOnline, 15 Apr 2020; aiba.org, 24 Nov 2018)

She became the first Indian woman to win a medal in boxing at the Olympic Games when she claimed bronze in the flyweight category at the 2012 Games in London. (SportsDeskOnline, 15 Apr 2020)

She was the first Indian female boxer to win gold at the Asian Games following her victory in the flyweight category at the 2014 Games in Incheon, Republic of Korea. (SportsDeskOnline, 15 Apr 2020)