India’s legendary boxer and former World No. 1 MC Mary Kom spoke for the first time about the controversy surrounding wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who was overweight by 100 gm for her 50 kg final bout at the Paris Olympics and was subsequently disqualified.

Speaking from her own experience of having to lose weight before bouts, Mary Kom said: “Even I have had failures in my career in the past 20 years. Only I am responsible [for weight management] as I’m representing my country. It is my duty, first thing in the morning is to check my weight. And if your weight is more, then you have to reduce it before the weigh-in.”