'Misquoted': Olympian Mary Kom denies retirement reports

Olympian MC Mary Kom has dismissed reports of her retirement, clarifying that she was misquoted and has not made any formal announcement about stepping away from boxing. The six-time world champion and Olympic bronze medallist explained that her previous statements were related to age limit restrictions in amateur boxing. 

The 41-year-old is past the age of eligibility to compete on the amateur circuit. She said that she has not made any formal announcement about retiring from the sport.

Early on Thursday morning, the boxer clarified, "I haven't announced retirement yet and I have been misquoted. I will personally come in front of the 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."

A day earlier several media reports stated that due to the age cut-off of 40 years for amateur boxers, the athlete has been forced to retire.

Mary Kom said that during her speech to children at a school in Assam’s Dibrugarh on January 24, she spoke about her hunger of achieving in sports but age limit in Olympics won’t allow her to participate. She said she would, nevertheless, carry on with her sport. 

Clarifying herself she said, "I am still focusing on my fitness and whenever I will announce retirement I will inform everyone. Please do correct this."