Mary Kom creates history; wins record sixth World Championship gold

MC Mary Kom

India's MC Mary Kom won a historic sixth gold in the World Championships here on Saturday, the mother-of-three doing, without breaking a sweat, what no other woman boxer has done or known before. Moments after Mary Kom became the most successful boxer in the history of women's world championships by beating Ukraine's Hanna Okhota in an unanimous 5-0 verdict in the 48kg category summit bout, young Sonia Chahal settled for a silver medal after losing her final.

The feisty Manipuri now has an incredible six gold and one silver in the showpiece, the last yellow metal coming in 2010 at Bridgetown. The results read 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 30-27 in favour of Mary Kom who had beaten the opponent in a tournament in Poland this year.

Before this World Championships, Mary Kom was tied with Ireland's Katie Taylor (five gold and a bronze) on the number of medals won by a woman. With this, Magnificent Mary also matched Cuban legend Felix Savon as the joint most successful pugilist (men and women) in the Championships history.

The feisty Manipuri, a mother of three children, won a 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. Overwhelmed, Mary Kom broke down after coming out of the ring as she went around to greet the packed crowd and the assembled officials. Wrapped in the tri-colour, she thanked her fans for their "unstinted" support.

"I am a little bit emotional today. There is no [48kg] weight category in the Olympic Games. Because of your love and support, I feel I will be able to qualify for 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Four years ago, I was not able to qualify for Rio. I am still suffering from that," she said.

Sonia Chahal

India ended the championships with 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze - from Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Simranjit Kaur (64kg). India's best performance ever was the eight medals, including four gold, it won in 2006 in New Delhi.

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