Mary Kom

Mary Kom’s full name is Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom. She hails from Manipur, India. Mary was born on 1 March 1983. She belongs to a simple family; her parents are tenant farmers who worked in Jhum fields. Mary used to help her parents on farms. She used to practice boxing along with her classes in school. Mary’s father was also a wrestler in his initial days. She has two more younger siblings. Mary completed her high school from Adimjati High School, Imphal. She decided to complete the rest of her schooling from NIOS. Mary did her graduation from Churachandpur Government College, Manipur. During her school days, she used to take part in all types of sports competitions. She got inspired by Dingko Singh and decided to shift her focus from athletics to boxing in the year 2000.

She started her training with her first coach K. Kosana Meitei. She decided to pursue her remaining education at the Sports Academy in Imphal. There, she joined state-level boxing coach M. Narjit Singh. She won a state boxing championship in the year 2000. She took a break from boxing soon after she got married to Karung Onkholer popularly, known as Onler. Onler is a footballer; she first met him in New Delhi in 2000. They got married in 2005. In 2007 she became a mother of twins, and soon, she resumed her training and won a Silver medal at the Asian Women’s Boxing Championship in India in the year 2008. She won medals in many tournaments. She also had played many Olympic, Commonwealth, and Asian games.

She participated in her first Olympic game held in 2012 in London and won the Bronze medal. She recently won an AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship held in Russia in 2019. She was also awarded by Padma Vibhushan in sports in 2020. She also had won many national and international awards. Mary actively participates in the activities related to the protection of animal rights. She is also a supporter of PETA India. She took the initiative and requested to all senior authorities around all states to teach compassion towards animals to young children and include lessons in their curriculum.