Five-time world champion Mary Kom, on Friday, resigned as the national observer for Indian boxing after Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore made it clear that active sportspersons will not be considered for the position.

“I resigned as national observer 10 days ago after having a word with Mr Rathore. I had been requested to take up the position and it was not something I had asked for,” Mary Kom was quoted as saying by PTI.

The 34-year-old capped off a memorable comeback, picking up her fifth Asian Championships medal last month in Vietnam. Recently, there were accusations of conflict of interest surrounding her appointment to the post given that she is still an active national camper.

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“I had inquired about the rule on not having active athletes as observers with the then Sports Secretary Injeti Srinivas when it was offered to me,” she said. “But at that time, I was told that I should nonetheless accept the position. I did so on insistence of the Ministry and I don’t want unnecessary controversies about something that I had not asked for.” Kom said she was “happy to let it [the post] go” and that she had no complaints.

The 35-year-old Olympic bronze-medallist was among 12 national observers appointed by the then Sports Minister Vijay Goel in March. The list also includes Olympic-gold- medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, double Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar, and former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Akhil Kumar, among others.

Of these, Sushil Kumar and Mary Kom are still active in their respective sports. Akhil Kumar, on the other hand, is no longer a part of the national camp after giving up amateur boxing. He has already rejected the conflict of interest charge, saying that he is neither a beneficiary of government schemes nor a part of the national camp.

Mary Kom is also a Rajya Sabha MP and is eyeing a medal at the Commonwealth and Asian Games next year.