Tokyo Olympics: 5 competitors who can stop Mary Kom from winning gold medal

India’s ace boxer Mary Kom is gearing up for her final Olympics and is aiming to win the prestigious gold medal for her country.

Mary Kom, who featured in the 2012 and 2016 editions of the Games, clinched a medal in her maiden appearance at the Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the 51kg category in London. The 2012 Games was also the first time women's boxing had featured as an Olympic sport.

Mary Kom, who has received several national awards over the years for her achievement in boxing, has won a total of 13 gold medals in her decorated career: 6 in World Championships, 1 in Asian Games, 1 in Commonwealth Games, and 5 in Asian Championships.

The biggest strength of the 38-year-old boxer is her experience that will be tested against younger and quicker opponents at the Tokyo Games. Ahead of the mega event, to make her case stronger, she trained with stronger, taller and bulkier boxers.

The 25-year Russian boxer, who denied Mary Kom a seventh world title in 2019, could be one of the major threats to the India legend. World No. 2 Buse defeated third-ranked Mary in their previous encounter, which was the semi-final clash of the World Championships in Russia.

The Colombian boxer is also an Olympic medalist, winning bronze at Rio 2016. Even though the World No.8 went down to Mary Kom in the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Championships, the 32-year-old boxer can still be a great threat to the Indian’s campaign at the Tokyo Games.

The World No. 5 Virginia is one of the rare boxers to have outpunched Mary Kom in two bouts. Bronze medalist at the 2018 World Championship, Virginia defeated Mary Kom earlier this year in an excellent semi-final of the Boxam Tournament in Spain.

As Japan’s women's boxing team are yet to win a medal, local favourite Tsukimi will be under pressure to change that. The 22-year-old boxer secured a spot for the 2020 Olympic Games by winner the quarterfinal bout in the flyweight category at the 2020 Asia-Oceania qualification tournament in Amman, Jordan. World No. 10 finished the tournament with a silver medal. Known for her fast feet, Namiki could be a threat to Mary Kom.

Chang Yuan, a former Youth Olympics champion, defeated Mary Kom in a split 1-4 verdict at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers held in Amman, Jordan. Even though the Chinese boxer may not be ranked in the top 20 of the 51 kg category, she still could challenge Mary Kom in Tokyo.