Mary Kom honoured with 'Legends Award' by the AIBA
Celebrated Indian boxer and five-time world champion MC Mary Kom was honoured by the AIBA (International Boxing Federation) during its 70th anniversary at Montreux, Switzerland. The Manipuri was presented the "AIBA Legends Award" for her trailblazing boxing career. "This recognition from AIBA will encourage young boxers in our country to work hard," said Mary in response to the honour.
AIBA launched 'Legends Awards' this year, "to honour the personalities and talents that have blessed the sport over AIBA's seven decades as world boxing's governing body." Apart from Mary Kom, Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko, Cuba's Felix Savon, France's Brahim Asloum were also honored with legends award.
MC Mary Kom is a five-time world champion having won it in - 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2010. She won the Olympic bronze for India in 2012 London Olympics, becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic boxing medal. Mary's honours and awards include - Arjuna Award (2004), Padma Shri Award (2006), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2009), and Padma Bhushan (2013).
Former Asian Games gold-medalist Vikas Krishan also shone at the AIBA awards ceremony. The 24-year-old pugilist who competed in two APB (AIBA Pro Boxing) bouts this year, was handed the "APB Best Boxer Trophy". Vikas was given the award in recognition of his achievements in 2016. Vikas is currently training in the US for the season ahead, which includes the 2017 World Championships.
Vikas Krishan hails from Bhiwani, Haryana. His achievements include Gold medal at 2010 Asian Games, bronze at 2011 AIBA World Championships, bronze at 2014 Asian Games. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2012.
At the AIBA event, the best performances of 2016 were awarded. This included the reigning Olympic men's and women's Light Flyweight champions Uzbekistan's Hasanboy Dusmatov and Britain's Nicola Adams both of whom won the "Boxer of the Year" title. The "Best Coach award" was won by Billy Walsh after a successful year as in-charge of the US boxing team.
