Five sports where Indian female players have shone

#3. Boxing

That age is just a number, the legendary Mary Kom has been proving time and again. Even at 36, Mary has refused to slow down and her hunger hasn't diminished one bit.

It is her strong willpower that helped her to fight poverty and hardships in rural Manipur to find her true calling in boxing.

It was Dingko Singh's Asian Games gold medal in 1998 that inspired the young Mary to take up boxing gloves. Since then it was a challenging journey where she even had to hide her passion for boxing from her father lest it created problems for the family.

Mary's singular focus and never-say-die attitude, despite her petite frame, helped her flourish in the ring and made her an established name in the elite competitions. With the support of her husband Onler Kom, Mary took Indian boxing to absolutely another level.

She now has as many as six gold medals from the World Boxing Championships and is now the only woman in the world to do so. Gold medals followed from the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, besides a highly-coveted medal -- a bronze -- from the 2012 Olympics.

Even after having her resume embellished with so many accomplishments, Mary is not satisfied and still has her sights set on the Olympic gold medal that she missed and wants to aim for it in 2020.

Sarita Devi is another pugilist from the state of Manipur who has found a lot of success. A World Championships gold, several Asian Championships gold medals do justice to her talent.

Mary Kom and Sarita Devi have encouraged a lot of youngsters as well. The likes of former world junior champion Nikhat Zareen, former World Championship silver medallist Sarjubala Devi ensure Indian women's boxing's future is bright.