India's Mary Kom rose to the top of the boxing world rankings Thursday, two months after becoming the first female boxer to win six world championships.
The 36-year-old mother-of-three was ranked number one by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) in the Light Fly 45-48 kilogram category, scoring 1700 points. Kom capped her 2018 campaign with her sixth world championship title after defeating Ukraine's Hanna Okhota by 5-0 in Delhi.
Mary Kom's unprecedented sixth world title triumph has put her on the coveted number one position in the International Boxing Association's (AIBA), the latest world rankings.
According to the updated rankings put out by AIBA, Mary Kom is placed on top of the charts in the weight division with 1700 points.
The 36-year-old will have to jump to 51kg in pursuit of her 2020 Olympic dream as 48 kg is not yet included in the games' roster.
Mary Kom's year started with gold (India Open) and ended with gold (the world championships).
The feisty Manipuri won silver in the inaugural edition in 2001 and then went on to win a gold each in the next five editions – 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
The mother-of-three enjoyed a stellar 2018, by picking up gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and a tournament in Poland. She also won silver at the prestigious Strandja Memorial in Bgariaul.
Mary Kom remains the only Indian female boxer to have won an Olympic medal, a bronze at the 2012 London games, and also the only one with Commonwealth Games gold, won in Gold Coast last year.
Coming from a small village, Mary's parents worked in the fields. She did not complete her education due to her passion for boxing.
A high school dropout, Mary completed her education through alternative ways. She studied at the Loktak Christian Model High School up to class six, at the St Xavier Catholic School up to class eight and then moved to Imphal for her schooling for classes nine and 10.
From childhood, she had a keen interest in athletics. Inspired by the success of Dingko Singh, who had won gold at the Asian Games, Kom started her training under M Narjit Singh, Manipur State Boxing coach.
Mary Kom did not tell her parents before she started her training to become a boxer. Her father even tried to discourage her when he found out. In fact, everyone in her town tried to discourage her efforts by ridiculing her.
Kom started winning early on and won her first silver in 2001. She went on to win gold medals at the World Amateur Boxing Championship and also won gold at the 2003 Asian Games.
She won the Witch Cup in the year 2002, a silver medal at the 2008 Asian Women's Boxing Championship, and a fourth successive gold medal at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship in China, followed by a gold medal at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam.
Apart from that, she also won gold at the Asian Women's Boxing Championship in Kazakhstan, and at the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship in Barbados, her fifth consecutive gold at the championship.
In 2010, she had the honour of bearing the Queen's Baton in its opening ceremony run in the stadium for the 2010 Commonwealth Games of Delhi.
Her autobiography, Unbreakable, co-authored by Dina Serto, was published in 2013. In 2014, a biographical film was released, in which Priyanka Chopra played the main role as Mary Kom.
Kom's bag is full of awards and titles, from the Arjuna Award to the Padma Shree, from the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award to have a road named after her; she has been honoured several times.
She has an academy of her own by the name of Mary Kom-SAI boxing academy. It helps and encourages thousands of people in achieving their dreams in boxing.
