NEW DELHI — Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom expressed her disappointment over Indian boxers' below-par performance at the Paris Olympics, stating that as a medallist herself, it’s natural to feel bad about it.
India fielded a team of six boxers at the Paris 2024 Olympics with the squad consisting of two men and four women, which included the likes of Tokyo Games bronze winner Lovlina Borgohain and World champion Nikhat Zareen.
"Looking at the Olympics performance, its unfortunate that we didn’t win a medal in the 2024 Olympics. We will assess what needs to be done moving forward and what shouldn’t be done," Mary Kom told IANS on the sideline of the Army Sports Conclave.
Lovlina (women's 75kg) fell just short of a historic second medal, losing in the quarterfinals to China’s Li Qian. Nishant Dev, who competed in the men’s 71kg category, was the other Indian boxer to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to Mexico’s Marco Verde.
Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen (Women’s 50kg), reigning Commonwealth champion Amit Panghal (Men’s 51kg) and Preeti Pawar (Women’s 54kg) lost in the round of 16 in their respective categories. Jaismine Lamboria (Women’s 57kg) bowed out in the round of 32.
"As a world champion and medallist myself, its natural to feel disappointed. We'll focus on more practice and hard work for the upcoming tournaments," she added.
Vijender Singh (bronze medal at Beijing 2008), Mary Kom (bronze medal at London 2012) and Lovlina (bronze medal at Tokyo 2020) are the three Indian boxers who have won medals at the Olympics to date.