NEW DELHI — She took up boxing at 27 to get back in shape after pregnancy. A decade on, Finland's Mira Potkonen is the European champion with an Olympic bronze medal — and her eyes set on gold at Tokyo 2020.

Now 37, Potkonen is one of the few female boxers, alongside the likes of India's Mary Kom, to strike a successful balance between motherhood and a top sporting career.

But Potkonen, who bowed out of the women's World Championships in the lightweight 60kg category in New Delhi on Tuesday, told AFP that juggling boxing and family life had thrown up few obstacles.

"It hasn't been a big challenge for me. It actually balances my life," Potkonen said on the sidelines of her training. "We have a good support system and people who can take care of my children when I am away.

"My focus all the time has been on getting better and better. My goal is to be in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and win a gold there," she said with a smile.

In contrast to their male counterparts, only a small band of female boxers who compete at the highest level are parents.

India's Kom, a 35-year-old mother of three sons, is assured of winning her seventh World Championships medal at the Delhi event.

Carolina "Crespita" Rodriguez, a world bantamweight champion from Chile, made headlines two years ago training whilst eight months pregnant with her daughter.

Potkonen took up the sport after the birth of her second daughter, who is now 11 — the other daughter is 13 — and soon went professional.

"It all started as a hobby in trying to be fit after the birth of my daughters. I realised very soon that it is a sport that I really like and started competing," said Potkonen.

"But the girls don't follow me to the gym. They have their own dreams and own sports and enjoy that very much. They are not interested in boxing. They play football and aerobics," she added.

Potkonen has been in top form since bagging Finland's only medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She won the European title this year.

She said her coach Maarit Teuronen has played a major role in her making a success of a late-blooming career.

"It's not difficult because I have such a good coach who has been a boxer herself. She was in the 2006 championships in India. She knows what she is doing, so that makes my life easy," Potkonen said.

"The training is getting better, and it's getting harder. I feel very very fit but still (have a) way to go before the Tokyo Olympics," she added.

Potkonen, who showed no sign of slowing down as she pummelled the bag, said she does not have a sports idol for inspiration.

"I generally admire top athletes in any sport who are very good and very technical in their sport," said Potkonen.

"But I don't have any idol or something like that. I just generally enjoy athletes who really know what they are doing," she concluded. — AFP