MC Mary Kom of Northeast Becomes First Woman Athlete to be Recommended for 'Padma Vibhushan'

Guwahati, September 9, 2019:

Manipur's pride MC Mary Kom has been recommended for the prestigious 'Padma Vibhushan' award. It may be mentioned that this is the first time that a woman athlete’s name has been put forward by the sports ministry for the country’s second-highest civilian honour (after the Bharat Ratna).

Chess great Viswanathan Anand (2007), cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (2008) and mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary (posthumously in 2008), are the only others from the field of sports to get the award.

The Rajya Sabha member was awarded the Padma Bhushan six years back in 2013 and the Padma Shri in 2006.

Badminton star PV Sindhu, who became the first Indian to win the world championship in August, has been recommended for the Padma Bhushan. She had got the Padma Shri in 2015.

Apart from them, the Sports Ministry has also recommended wrestler Vinesh Phogat, table tennis player Manika Batra, Twenty20 International cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur, hockey captain Rani Rampal, former shooter Suma Shirur, and mountaineers Tashi and Nungshi Malik, for the Padma Shri award.

The recommendations have been sent to the Padma awards committee in the home ministry. The names of the winners will be announced on the eve of Republic Day next year.

It may be mentioned here Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte is an Indian Olympic boxer from Manipur. She is the only woman to become World Amateur Boxing champion for a record six times, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the seven world championships.

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