Mary Korn’s full name is Chungneijang Mary Kom Mangte. She hails from a village in Manipur. Her father was an ex-wrestler. Right from an early age, Mary Kom was interested in athletics and boxing. Finally she took up boxing, despite objections from her father. He was worried that boxing would mar her face and that would make it difficult for him to arrange a suitable marriage for her. She trained under Charles Atkinson and sparred with some of the finest male boxers in Pune.
Mary Kom has a list of National and International achievements. She won the Manipur State Women’s Boxing Championship. Then she won the Regional championship for boxing in West Bengal. She made her International debut in 2001 at the first AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship in the United States. There she won the silver medal in the 48 kg category.
In 2012, she won the bronze medal at the Olympics in the flyweight (51kg category). She has been five times World Amateur Boxing Champion. She plans to take up coaching for women boxers with potential.
