Breaking faces and glass ceilings

A world champion with her eyes on gold for eternity. Two teens with more to look forward to than to look back on. A young mother fighting to save her passion when her 10-month-old son is crying for her attention. A national coach who has seen it all but watches the horizon with optimism still. A state coach who isn’t pleased with a failed bureaucracy, but hasn’t stopped giving others a reason to be happy.

These characters - their unique stories, contrasting lives, and ranging economic backgrounds - are all here because they happen to love women's boxing, and there's reason enough for that.

From the likes of MC Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, Jenny R Lalremliani, and more, female pugilists from India have historically set the international stage on fire. The new generation is ensuring that legacy lives on through Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora. Each of these four pugilists won gold at the recently held Worlds Championship in New Delhi.

Read | Mary Kom is the biggest champion in the world: Rio Olympics gold medallist Estelle Mossely

As for the men, Akhil Kumar, Vijender Singh, Amit Panghal, Shiva Thapa and boxers of that ilk have done well to put Indian boxing on the map over the years, but it's becoming more and more evident that the men aren't capturing the collective conscience of the country with their travails in the ring. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that they haven't been as successful with their medals tally over the last decade.

"I don't think the men have done badly, I just think the women have done better," says a national boxing coach. "I think it's because women have these icons to look up to and chase like Mary Kom and now Nikhat and Lovlina. I don't think that's there with the men. These influences play a big part."

The coach also notes that boxing at the international level is grades above when it comes to men's boxing and therefore fewer and fewer boxers are able to transition to the highest level. "It's slightly easier for women I think," he says.

Oinam Geeta Chanu supposes Indian women are better at the sport because of the societal obstacles they have had to overcome. “You don’t even have a clue of the things women have to hear and go through when they take up sports like boxing in the county,” says Chanu, who is the chief coach of the Indian junior girls’ team. ”It’s not easy being a woman in the country, let alone when you pick up sports like this. My god, the things we hear, the things we have to overcome, it’s all so overwhelming, it’s so tough, and yet they win so many golds, it’s just amazing or they win because of all the things they have to hear and realise that the only way out is to go right through.”

Chanu, however, admits that things are changing. A fact that becomes more and more evident as two Karnataka girls in their teens respond with optimism when asked about their future as boxers. Both, E Yoogasri and Amullya, won bronze medals at the National level, and now they’re looking to go beyond.

“I was quite young and we were all on our Scooty coming back from watching ‘Dangal’. I remember asking my dad how cool it would be to take up wrestling or boxing or some contact sport, and I remember him saying it doesn’t work out as it does in the movies. But he supported me after that,” says the 18-year-old Yoogasri, who is pursuing BSc Sports Sciences in at Reva Institute.

Then there’s Amullya, who in Manipur nationals last year became the first junior female medallist from Karnataka in close to two decades. Interestingly, it was her mother - Ramya K - who spoke at length. “We’re a sporting family so we were not going to stop her,” she says. “Even her younger sister, Anannya, who is 12 now has started boxing about six months ago. Boxing as a sport is growing in the country and we’re very happy to have two girls in the family who are practicing it.”

Then there is Anju S. Anju won the bronze medal for Karnataka in the 2021 Youth Women’s National boxing championship when she was 19. Now, she is with a ten-month-old boy and plotting her return to the ring.

“See, I think it’s easier to make a comeback when you’re mother,” Anju says. “Because you’re stronger from all the years of training and when you enter pregnancy it’s not that difficult. The only thing I had difficulty was with the birthing process, but the pregnancy itself was not that hard. I had to undergo a C-section, but my recovery has been so good. I am back in training and will return to competitions in the next few months.”

A higher threshold for pain, Anju says, could be another reason why the women are faring well. While that could explain the likes of Anju and Mary Kom - mothers both - it is still only a hypothesis.

As the conversation ensued with stranger suppositions coming through, the current Karnataka coach of the women's team revealed that Karnataka have never won a gold medal in the senior category at the Nationals. Ever. Quite the surprise because, he claims, there are around 100 female boxers currently participating in the championships.

“There is some good talent here, but the problem is, most of them don’t go on to participate at the senior level,” he says. “Usually, they get jobs and are placed after doing well at the sub-junior, junior and youth levels. I have spoken to a lot of parents, trying to convince them that they should let their daughters continue to box at the senior level, but they don’t. Parents are convinced that they won’t do well. That mindset is exactly why we have not done well at the National level."

CA Kuttappa, the current coach of the senior Indian team, reckoned that more needs to be done to increase the pool of players from which the national team can be picked. “All state teams should work at the grassroot level to improve the ecosystem,” he says. “We should provide maximum tournament exposure at all levels and across all age group categories. All states should organise camp before tournaments and work collectively with athletes and their personal coaches.”

The reticent speaker doesn’t go into the details of many queries and entirely ignores talks of women doing better than men in boxing. Instead, he took the diplomatic route, insisting that India will continue to produce world-class boxing talent for a long time to come.

Nikhat, in that vein, might have something to do with what's to come.

“When I was growing up, the narrative was that girls are not strong enough to take up boxing. But slowly the mindset of the country has changed and it’s because of people like me, who were lucky with determined families,” she says. "Even now, people call up my father when I medal asking him if I can personally train their daughters. It’s such a nice feeling to see so many people wanting something more for their daughters. I hope to help them.”

Turns out, the Telangana government is not far from sanctioning her land to start a high-performance centre in Hyderabad. Her father - Mohammad Jameel Ahmed - revealed that she had submitted a proposal for a 10-acre plot for the academy. It was also revealed that the central government is likely to give her financial aid when this venture does kick off.

Looks like the women will do better than the men for some more time to come then.