On Wednesday night, post his daughter Nupur Singh Sheoran’s winning bout in the 80Kg+ quarters of the World Boxing Championship in Liverpool, Sanjay – also her coach – would ask his wife Mukesh to keep track of her upcoming bouts. He had a boxer in another weight division, to root for, who was surging towards her first-ever World Championship medal, at age 34.
One of his oldest trainees Pooja Rani – the two-time Asian Champion and 2014 Asian Games bronze medallist – had won a 3:2 split decision, against Poland’s Emilia Koterskain in the quarter-finals post midnight and assured herself of her first World’s medal. Sanjay and Mukesh would fondly recall when a 17-year-old Pooja had approached the coach for training.
“Pooja was a student of my wife’s and within days of her going to college, we grew fond of her and she would call my wife Ma. And when she would visit, she would also see me training boys. As she feared telling me, she asked my wife to ask me to train her in boxing. I refused initially as I did not train girls at that time. But then she persisted and when she started, her natural strength showed in her boxing. Initially her father Rajbir Singh ji, a Haryana Police Sub Inspector, did not want her to box and sometimes when Pooja would suffer injuries on her face during a bout, she would remain at our home so that her family would not get to know. It was on her insistence that her father started supporting her dreams. While he died in 2022, he would have been the proudest to see his daughter win a World’s medal,” shares Sanjay who comes from an illustrious boxing lineage – he is the legendary boxer Capt Hawa Singh’s son.
The World’s medal had eluded Pooja though she had others.
Devastating Tokyo loss
Growing up in Neemriwali village near Bhiwani, a young Rani was interested in studies. It was in 2008 that she started training for boxing. Initially in 60kg, Rani would move to 75kg, one of the three Olympic categories introduced for women in 2012 Olympics. A silver medal in Arafura Games at Australia followed by a bronze in China Cup the same year was followed by Rani earning a spot in the Indian team for Asian Championships where she won silver.
She represented India at the World’s in China, where she lost to future two-time Olympic champion Claressa Shields of USA in the first round in 75kg. “I remember watching Pooja first compete in 54Kg in one of the nationals before she moved to higher weight categories. In the Kerala nationals in late 2000’s, she scored a 22-2 win over then 63 kg world champion Jenny Lalremilani and even though she did not compete further in the tournament post the win, I knew Pooja had the talent to shine. During the world championships first round bout against Claressa Shields, even though she achieved a standing count too, she played aggressively and showed no fear against her,” recalls national chief coach Dr D Chandralal.
Also read: Nupur Sheoran, Jaismine Lamboriya carry Hawa Singh’s legacy
Post 2012, Rani won the bronze in 2014 Incheon Asian Games and at the 2015 Asian Championships in 75kg. While she would fail to win the Olympic quota with a second round loss against Savannah Marshall of England in the 2016 World Championships, the year would also see Rani burning her hands in a firecracker incident. It would also mean that she would be away from boxing for more than a year.
“Pooja had missed being at home to celebrate Diwali for years. So that year, she was enthusiastically lighting an anar (fire fountain from lava cone) when it exploded and injured her left hand. While she would train with her right hand, the muscle imbalance due to the injury also led to a shoulder injury. But she was always motivated and told us, “’Coach papa, I will make a return’,” recalls Sheoran.
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Rani would win the first of her Asian titles in 81kg with a win over world champion Wang Lina of China in 2019 followed by her earning a spot in the Indian team for the Tokyo Olympics Asia-Oceania qualifiers in Jordan in March 2021. She sealed the Olympic quota in 75kg with a win over Pornnipa Chutee of Thailand in the quarter-finals in Jordan. The Haryana boxer would then win her second Asian title months before the Tokyo Olympics with a win over Mavluda Movlonoo of Uzbekistan.
At Tokyo Olympics, Rani would reach the quarter-finals before losing against Rio Olympics bronze medallist Li Qian of China to end her medal hopes. “She was devastated post the loss. But then she understood her shortcomings against Qian, who was a very strong boxer. We worked on her left hook, right hook, left hook combination apart from how to tackle taller opponents too,” recalls Sheoran.
In 2022, days before she was to compete in Strandja Memorial, Rani lost her father. The last one year has seen her shuffling between 75kg and 80 kg categories with Tokyo Olympics 69kg bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain making a shift to 75kg. Earlier this year, Rani won a silver in the 80kg division in the World Cup Stage 2 in Kazakhstan.
On Thursday, Rani lost the first round 3:2 against Koterskain before winning the second 5:0. The third round saw Rani keep up the attack against the Polish boxer and won the bout through a 3:2 split decision. “I would say 2012 was Pooja’s prime but then she was not handled well. But her strength has been her persistence and ability to fight and her longevity. With the Olympics having 75kg, she too will aim to return to 75kg and her first world’s medal, even if it came in 80Kg will motivate her,” says Dr D Chandralal.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
