Mary Kom denies reports of her retirement: "I haven't announced retirement yet and I have been misquoted'

Mary Kom has denied the reports that she had announced her retirement from boxing. It was reported on Wednesday that the Olympic bronze-medallist and six-time boxing world champion from Manipur has decided to hang up her boots due to the age limit. The 41-year-old is past the age eligibility to compete in the amateur circuit. In the amateur circuit, boxers are only permitted to compete till they are 40 years old.

Mary Kom, a flyweight (51kg) category boxer, on Thursday said that she hasn’t made any formal announcement about her retiring from boxing.

“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 said in a statement to PTI.

“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 boxed in an official bout since her pre-quarterfinal defeat in the Tokyo Olympics. With Kom not turning a professional, it has been widely speculated that she will retire from boxing. There’s no age limit in professional boxing.

At the school event, Mark Kom had said: ‘I have the hunger still but unfortunately because of the age limit it is over I cannot compete in any competition. I want to play more but I am being forced to quit (due to the age limit). I have to retire. I have achieved everything in my life.”

Mary Kom is one of the most successful Indian sportspersons with six world championship gold medal wins. She is also a Khel Ratna awardee and served as a Rajya Sabha MP. Mary Kom was bestowed with India’s second highest civillian award — the Padma Vibhushan — in 2020.