My focus is to win gold in Olympics: Mary Kom

Six-time World Champion pugilist Mary Kom on Wednesday said her focus is to bring a gold medal for the country in Olympics.

However, the 37-year-old boxer had to battle it hard to secure her place in the Tokyo Olympics, in 51kg category, which has been now postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She won a bronze medal in the recently concluded Asia/Oceania Boxing Olympic qualifiers in Jordan. In the 2012 London Olympics, she bagged a bronze medal but failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

"My focus is to win gold for India at the Olympic Games. I have been trying really hard even at this age. It was very difficult for me to qualify for the Olympics in the first place which have been postponed until next year," Mary Kom said in a Facebook Live session for the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

"There's no secret mantra for me to achieve at the World Championships or the Olympics. I will keep fighting and will not give up until I win the gold for India at the Olympics," she added.

Kom was one of the first athletes to welcome the postponement of the Olympics and had said "it is a really good decision because of the spread of the coronavirus".

"I need blessings and love of the entire nation to fulfil my dream," the boxer said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday announced that the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will be 'celebrated' from July 23 to August 8 next year while the Paralympics Games will be held from August 24 to September 5, 2021.

"The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympics Committee (IPC), the Tokyo 2020 organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan today agreed on new dates for the games of the XXXII Olympiad, in 2021. The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be celebrated from 23 July to 8 August 2021. They also agreed on new dates for the Paralympic Games, which will be celebrated from 24 August until 5 September 2021," the IOC said in a statement.