It was indeed a great pride for all of us when a young Kom girl from Manipur won the gold medal in the 2nd World Women’s Boxing Championship which was recently held at Antalia in Turkey. Miss Mangte Chungneijang (MC) Mary Kom has inscribed herself in the history of Manipur sports as being the first ethnic from Manipur to win a gold medal at the international level. She slipped the gold at the first edition of the same championship held at Pennsylvania USA last year by winning silver medal. On her recent achievement, the Governor of Manipur, State Government, Kom Rem Students’ Union and other well wishers gave her a befitting reception on different occasions.



Miss Mary Kom is the first daughter of Shri M Tonpa Kom and Smt M Akham Kom. They belonged to Kangathel village, a small village in Churachandpur district. From her early childhood, Mary Kom showed keen interest in games and sports. She first took up athletics but sensing that she won’t be able to make it to the national and international level she gave up and took to boxing. After just a year of hard work, determination and encouragement from her coach, Mary Kom began to expose her hidden talents in the state and national level championships wherein she won gold medals in her category in many events.


Her first gold medal was won at the 1st State Level Invitation Boxing Championship organized by Women Amateur Boxing Association, Manipur in the year 2000. She also won the Best Boxer title in the championship. In the same year Mary Kom won the gold in the 7th East India Women’s Boxing Championship held in West Bengal. She also won gold medals in 1st and 2nd national Women Boxing Championship held at Chennai and New Delhi in 2001 and 2002 respectively.

At the international level, she has won silver medal in the 1st Women Introducing World Boxing Championship held at Pennsylvania USA in 2001. She hit the headlines after striking gold in the second edition of this championship held at Antalia in Turkey recently. She also won gold in the International Tournament Training, Pees, Hungary. She participated in the 1st Asian Women Boxing Championship held at Bangkok last year. However, she could not make it to win a medal. This is how glorious Mary Kom's career has started. It is her firm determination to win the gold medals in Asian and Olympic Games when the game is included in these Games.


A little about Kom Rems (the ethnic tribe Mary Kom belongs):: The Kom Rems are one of the indigenous people of Manipur. They have been living in Manipur for more than 2000 years. They are akin to other indigenous people of Manipur as well as in Assam and Tripura such as Bete, Hrangkhawl, Darlong, Chakeepap, Inpui, Nambashi and other cognate tribes. According to their folk tales and tradition, they originally came from Magnolia passing through China, Burma and settled at Tripura, Assam, and Manipur. The Kom Rem people have no written record of history. Their traditional songs and incantations handed down from generation to generations through verbal narrations form the main bulk of their history of origin. Today, the Kom Rem consists of Aimol, Chiru, Kom, Koren (Koireng) and Purum who are all recognized separately as a scheduled tribe by the Indian Constitutions.