Tokyo Olympic 2020: 5 things to know about boxing superstar Mary Kom

2. Mary Kom has founded her own academy

She established the Mary Kom Regional Boxing Foundation

Not a lot of people are aware of the fact that Mary Kom has set up her own academy in her hometown - Mary Kom Regional Boxing Foundation.

As a successful boxer, Mary Kom wants to inspire many others to take up boxing. Keeping that in mind she opened her academy. Not only does she want to teach young kids how to box, but she also gives free training to underprivileged girls. Coming from a poor background herself, Mary didn't want to let poverty be the reason to not take up boxing.

By opening an academy she wanted to create a centre of excellence where she can produce boxing champions. Her vision is to create a support system and nurture young boxers by moulding them and creating an extremely strong base for them.

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3. Mary Kom was discouraged to become a boxer

Initially, no one believed in Mary.

As a young growing girl from a small village in Manipur, going up to your father and telling him you want to be a female boxer isn't exactly easy. That's exactly what Mary had foreseen.

She knew if she had approached her father and told him she wanted to be a boxer, he would shut it down idea immediately. Keeping this in mind, Mary used to go for boxing training secretly. Eventually, her father found out and wasn't supportive of it at all.

When Mary did well and secured her first win, which was made public by the local news, her father scolded her instead of supporting her. Her father believed that boxing was not for women and she shouldn't pursue it. Mary Kom had steely determination though and she didn't let this stop her.