Mary Kom breaks down in tears after Tokyo Olympics exit: Can't believe I lost, decision was unfortunate

Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom's (51kg) pursuit of a second Olympic medal ended in the pre-quarterfinals of the Tokyo Games as she went down to 2016 edition's bronze-medallist Ingrit Valencia in a fiercely-fought showdown on Thursday. The funny part, Mary Kom had actually won two of the three rounds.

Mary Kom lost by split decision against her Colombian opponent but the six-time world champion was stunned with the final result as 2 judges ruled the bout in favour of Ingrit while two went with the Indian boxing legend.

The Indian trailed 4-1 in the opening round with four of the five judges scoring it 10-9 in favour of Valencia. In the next two rounds, Mary Kom got three of the five judges to rule in her favour but the overall scoreline was still in favour of Valencia. The Manipuri clinched the third round too but once again, it was 3-2 and not 4-1 which is what she needed to swing the final score in her favour.

Mary Kom had tears in her eyes and a wide smile on her face when the referee raised Valencia's hand at the end of the bout.

The 38-year-old legend slammed the judges post her loss, terming the campaign as the worst Olympics she has ever participated in and blamed the biased scoring as the reason behind her exit.

‘I still can’t believe! I still can’t believe what is going on! But I don’t know what to do. We can’t [file] any [appeal], we can’t do any protest also. They have already said in the beginning that no protest, no decision change [will be allowed]. So, what can I do?’ said Mary Kom.

This could be the last Olympic Games for the veteran boxer.