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Boxing

Boxing champion Mary Kom awarded Global Indian Icon at UK-India Awards

Mary Kom, a sporting legend and India’s first Olympic medalist in women’s boxing, was named Global Indian legend of the Year at the annual UK-India Awards, which were hosted in Windsor, in south-eastern England. The 40-year-old great athlete, who also served as a Rajya Sabha member, highlighted her extraordinary 20-year journey filled with devotion and unflinching passion to the sport of boxing in a stunning gala celebration on Thursday night.

She humbly collected the medal from Vikram Doraiswami, the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, expressing her thanks and reflecting on the immense sacrifices she has made in pursuit of her boxing career.

“I have been fighting for 20 years, putting in so much effort, hard work in my life, in boxing, it means a lot…making sacrifice for my country, for my family. I really thank from the bottom of my heart for this recognition,” she said.

The first female boxer to have won a medal in each of the first seven World Championships, the only boxer (male or female) to have won eight World Championship medals, and the only boxer to have won six World Amateur Boxing Championship titles. She was known as Magnificent Mary and was the only female boxer from India to make it to the 2012 Summer Olympics. She participated in the flyweight (51 kg) division and took home a bronze medal. The International Boxing Association had also placed her as the top female light-flyweight in the world. She won a gold medal in the Asian Games in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea, making history as the first Indian female boxer to do so. She also won a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In addition, she is the only fighter to have won the title of Asian Amateur Boxing Champion a record six times. President’s Cup in Indonesia saw Mary Kom win the 51 kg gold medal.

On April 25, 2016, the Indian President proposed Kom for election to the Rajya Sabha, the country’s upper body of lawmakers. The Indian government’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports designated Mary Kom and Akhil Kumar as national boxing observers in March 2017.

The Nehru Centre in London, the Indian High Commission’s cultural arm, received the UK-India Award for Significant Contribution to UK-India Relations. The awards, now in their fifth year, honour exceptional contributions of leaders in business, professional services, government, culture, and social impact, emphasising their extraordinary achievements in developing bilateral connections.

The awards ceremony was the penultimate activity of the six-day UK-India Week, which also featured a special reception hosted by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street during which he committed to pursuing a “truly ambitious” free trade agreement (FTA) with India. The awards were chosen from a shortlist by a jury of industry experts.

Priyadarshan G

Priyadarshan G

priyadarshan

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