NEW DELHI: Olympic bronze-medallist and six-time boxing world champion MC Mary Kom on Thursday refuted reports that she had announced retirement.
The 41-year-old, who is already past the age eligibility to compete on the amateur circuit, said she still hadn’t made any formal announcement of calling it quits.
“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 flyweight (51kg) category boxer asserted in a statement.
Reports earlier quoted her as saying that due to the age cut off of 40 years for amateur boxers, she has been forced to retire.
“I was attending a school event in Dibrugarh (Assam) on January 24 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 been seen in action since her pre-quarterfinal loss in the Tokyo Olympics, which was her last appearance at the quadrennial showpiece.