WEIGHT MANAGEMENT IS ATHLETE'S OWN RESPONSIBILITY: MARY KOM

No stranger to the physical toll of weight management during a competition, six-time world champion boxer MC Mary Kom on Thursday waded into the debate surrounding wrestler Vinesh Phogat's Olympic heartbreak for being 100gm overweight, saying that to be within the prescribed limit is an individual responsibility.

The 42-year-old mother of four, who was India's first woman boxer to win an Olympic medal (a bronze in London, 2012), was in the city to promote Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, which named her as its brand ambassador.

Speaking for the first time on Phogat, who was disqualified on the day of her 50kg finals in the Paris Games for being marginally over the prescribed limit, Mary Kom said weight management is an athlete's responsibility.

"I felt so disappointed in the sense that I have also done the same (weight management) for the last so many years. Weight is important, that is my responsibility. I cannot blame anyone," she said.