I have not announced retirement: Mary Kom

PTI, Jan 25, 2024, 9:49 AM IST

New Delhi: Olympic bronze-medallist and six-time boxing world champion M C Mary Kom on Thursday refuted reports that she has announced retirement.

The 41-year-old, who is already past the age eligibility to compete on the amateur circuit, said she still hasn’t made any formal announcement of calling it quits.

“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,” the Manipuri flyweight (51kg) category boxer asserted in a statement to PTI.

Reports earlier quoted her as saying that due to the age cut off of 40 years for amateur boxers, she has been forced to retire.

“I was attending a school in event in Dibrugarh (Assam) 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’,” she said.

“I am still focusing on my fitness and whenever I will announce retirement I will inform everyone. Please do correct this,” she added.

Mary Kom has not been seen in action since her pre-quarterfinal loss in the Tokyo Olympics, which was her last appearance at the quadrennial showpiece.

Her future has been intensely speculated ever since given that she has refrained from taking the professional plunge where there is no age bar.

She is unarguably one of the most decorated Indian sportspersons of all time with six asian titles along with her half a dozen world gold medals.

The mother of four is a Khel Ratna awardee and also served as a Rajya Sabha MP.

She was bestowed with the country’s second highest civillian award — the Padma Vibhushan — in 2020.