India’s rise in the boxing arena has been awe-inspiring. However, it is the women folk who have raised the bar to a new height in the country, making it a powerhouse of the sport.

The walk to the boxing ring has not been that of a smooth one for these women trying to pull a punch. They had to navigate the tough social terrain to reach the pinnacle of their career.

The following are the female boxers who have made their mark in world women’s boxing:

Mary Kom:

Hailing from a small village of Manipur in northeast India, Mary Kom (41) is the most renowned boxer and a flag bearer of women boxing in India. She is the first one to bag an Olympic medal for India in women’s boxing in 2012 in London.

Nicknamed “Magnificent Mary”, Kom has won amateur World Championships a record six times. She was ranked world’s No.1 female light-flyweight by the International Boxing Association (amateur). She became the first female Indian boxer to win a gold medal in the Asian Games in 2024 in Incheon, South Korea. She was also the first female boxer to clinch a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2018. She bagged a gold in the President's Cup in Indonesia in 2019 to add another feather to her hat.

Nikhat Zereen:

Nikhat Zareen(27), from Nizamabad city of Telangana was introduced to boxing by her father Mohammad Jameel Ahmed and later she trained at the Sports Authority of India. She was declared the “golden best boxer” at Erode Nationals in 2010.

Since then, there has been no looking back for Zareen who went on to win two World Championships, in 2022 and 2023. She also clinched the AIBA Women’s Junior and Youth World Boxing Championship in 2011.

Zareen won gold in her debut Commonwealth Games appearance in 2022 in Birmingham. She also bagged gold in several other international tournaments.

Lovlina Borgohain:

Assam-born Lovlina Borgohain carved a niche for herself in the boxing world by winning a bronze medal in the 2020 Olympics in the women’s welterweight category. She is only the third Indian boxer to win a medal at the Olympics.

She then went on to win a gold medal at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in 2023. In between, she won a bronze medal each at the 2018 and 2029 World Championships. She also bagged gold at the 2022 Asian championships.

26-year-old Borgohain hails from a small village in Golaghat district of Assam. Her father is a small scale trader who struggled to financially support her. The challenges motivated her even more to work on herself and fulfill her and her family’s dream.

In India, most of the successful boxers have emerged from villages where life is drastically different in contrast to cities. Unlike the urban youth, who often head over to Casino Days’s live casino for entertainment, these village-born athletes have largely remained untouched by the city's glitter. Far from the sheen of urban life, Borgohain, too, did not let her humble background impede her boxing dream. She threw all her weight behind her passion to succeed and become one of the most prominent faces of women’s boxing.

Laishram Sarita Devi

Another Indian female boxer hailing from Manipur, Sarita Devi (42) won gold at World Championships in 2006 in New Delhi. She won a silver medal each at the Asian Boxing Championships in Bangkok and at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She won a bronze medal in the 3rd World Women Boxing Championships, Russia.