After 2016 heartbreak, Mary Kom qualifies for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games

Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom (51 kg) qualified for the Tokyo Olympics by advancing to the Asian Qualifiers' semifinal with a comfortable win over Philippines' Irish Magno on Monday. Second-seeded Mary Kom, who won a bronze in the 2012 London Olympics when women's boxing was first introduced at the showpiece, won the qualifier bout 5-0. The 37-year-old will square off against China's Yuan Chang in the semifinals. Chang is a former Youth Olympics champion.

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The illustrious career of MC Mary Kom

Nicknamed 'Magnificent Mary', MC Mary Kom has won many laurels for India. In fact, she is till date the only woman to become World Amateur Boxing champion for a record six times and also the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the first seven World Championships, and the only boxer (male or female) to win eight World Championship medals. Mary had clinched a bronze in the 51kg category at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Apart from her Olympic medal win, the star boxer has also succeeded in winning a gold medal in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and gold each in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the AIBA Women's World Championships respectively. Mary Kom could not qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics and this is a much-needed breakthrough for the boxing sensation as she will be entering the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with an aim of finishing on top of the podium.

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(With PTI Inputs)