Trailblazing boxer Nicola Adams makes 'difficult decision' to retire to save her sight

Trailblazing boxer Nicola Adams makes 'difficult decision' to retire to save her sight. Trailblazing British boxer Nicola Adams has announced she is retiring to save her eyesight. Adams won gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, making her the world's first female double Olympic gold medallist boxer. Having turned professional after Rio, she had hinted in July that she could defend her gold medals at Tokyo 2020. But now the 37-year-old has been advised “that any further impact to my eye would most likely lead to irreparable damage and permanent vision loss“. She wrote an open letter to the people of Yorkshire, published in the Yorkshire Evening Post, saying: “You've championed me from the very start of my careers and so I wanted you to be the first to know I've made the very difficult decision to step down from the ring.“ Adams, from Leeds, is hanging up her gloves just over three months after becoming the World Boxing Organisation's (WBO) world flyweight champion. In the letter, she described how her journey started aged 12 with her first fight after watching the “boxing greats (Ali, Tyson, Bruno)... cemented my decision to pursue my dreams“. She said although she “was raring to go“ it took years to find her next opponent and finding female fighters in her flyweight category “turned out to be more challenging than I thought“. The boxer, nicknamed The Lioness and Babyface, credited her fans, friends and family for getting her through a potentially career-ending back injury after winning silver at the world championships in 2008. She was made an MBE in 2013 and an OBE in 2017 for her services to boxing. “I'm immensely honoured to have represented our country,“ Adams said, adding it was “a dream come true“. “But it's not without taking its toll on my body, and aside from the expected aches and pains - I've been advised that any further impact to my eye would most likely lead to irreparable damage and permanent vision loss. “Having people in my life who are a fountain of support, kindness and love, has been the sole reason I've been able to represent my country in the way I have.“ Adams credited the people of Yorkshire, adding: “You have stuck with me through the most dark and daunting times. “In moments where I felt down and defeated, it has been your unfaltering support that has helped me persevere.“ She thanked her “wonderful“ team and especially her coach Alwyn Belcher. “Hanging up my gloves was always going to hard, but I have never felt luckier, and I'm so immensely proud of how far the sport has come,“ Adams added. Original Jedi Watching Best Affordable Laptop 2019 : Follow Link : Original Jedi Watching Tech Essentials Must have Dash Cam : Follow Link : == == Good For You by THBD Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 Music promoted by Audio Library == == Uk Politics World News 2019 Brexit G20 OJW Donations Welcome :