When Nupur Singh Sheoran, 25, won the gold medal in the women’s heavyweight (+80kg) category, now an Olympic category set to feature at the 2028 LA Olympics, in the World Boxing World Cup in Kazakhstan, the weight of history was behind her.
Hailing from Bhiwani, Haryana, widely-considered the nursery of Indian boxing, Nupur is the granddaughter of two-time Asian Games champion Captain Hawa Singh Sheoran, who is among the sport’s first national heroes.
When she picked up the gloves and decided to compete in the same heavyweight category as her grandfather, her father Sanjay, would relay the story of Hawa Singh’s 1970 Asian Games final against Iran’s 112 kg heavy Omran Khatami in the men’s heavyweight (+81kg). Nupur would heed the advice ahead of her final bout in Astana on Sunday, in which she defeated Yeldana Talipova with a 5-0 verdict.
“Ladna toh padhega hi chahe boxer 100kg ka ho ya 125kg ka (You have to fight whether the opponent weighs 100kg or 125kg ). He would often tell me about his fight against Khatami, who at 112 kgs was much heavier than him, yet he won the gold medal bout at Bangkok Asian Games in 1970. That’s what I told Nupur to prepare mentally on the day when she decided to compete in the heavyweight category,” Sanjay tells The Indian Express.
Nupur Singh Sheoran with her father Sanjay Singh Sheoran and mother along with portrait of her grandfather Captain Hawa Singh. (Special Arrangement)
Starting with a bang
Nupur, who was only interested in studies in her early years, picked up boxing in 2015 after she was convinced by her father. The youngster would win the Haryana State sub-junior title within hours of her first competing. A youth national title and five senior national titles, including three in the heavyweight category, would follow. “Boxing blood main hi thi (Boxing was in her blood),” Sanjay remembers.
An Asian Championship appearance for the Indian team in the women’s 75kg category in 2019 was followed by her winning the spot for the Indian team for the 2023 World Championships in the women’s heavyweight (+81kg) category.
In men’s boxing, the heavyweight category of +80kg in the Asian Games was the heaviest till 1978, after which new weight classes in the form of heavyweight and super heavyweight were introduced. But the women’s heavyweight (+81kg) category with no weight restriction was first introduced in the world championships in Delhi in 2010.
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For Nupur, it was only after a foot injury that she opted to take part in the heavyweight category. “Weeks before the 2023 nationals, I had suffered a foot fracture and had gained weight in the process. Before the nationals, I told my father that I could not miss the chance for world championships and don’t mind competing in the heavyweight category,” Nupur recalls.
Strength and footwork
At the 2023 worlds, Nupur would suffer a 4-3 loss against eventual silver medallist and 2016 world champion Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals after the bout was reviewed when the Indian had won 3-2. “I had lost the Tokyo Olympics 75 Kg trials against Pooja Rani, another trainee of my father. So I wanted to win a medal in the 2023 worlds. The Kazakh was much heavier and a well-built boxer but then the focus was on utilizing my footwork and speed, which 75 Kg taught me, and I was able to defeat Kungeibayeva. I still think I had won the bout,” Nupur recalls.
After her triumph in Astana, father Sanjay talks about how he made his daughter work on her strength as well as playing against taller and heavier opponents post her loss to Kungeibayeva in the 2023 worlds.
“Post the worlds, we worked on her strength first as she had less power for this category. Once we achieved that. The focus was to make her not forget the footwork of 75kg and to utilise left hooks as well right hooks while facing taller opponents,” he says.“When you box from a distance against a taller boxer then one also relies on left jab and right hook and then also using left hook and go towards the side to avoid contact.”.
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Kavita Chahal, the only Indian to have won a world’s medal in the women’s heavyweight category with a bronze each in 2010 and 2023, has been watching Nupur’s boxing. She believes Nupur’s height, as well as footwork, works to her advantage.
“Darna nahi hai. That’s my advice to her. If you are facing a shorter boxer, then fight from a distance and utilise left hook as well throw the combination of 1-2 when you go back. And if you are facing a taller opponent, play with your guard up and box from close range and make side movements. A heavier opponent can be tough but then she will have less stamina and one has to play the waiting game and go in close and land punches and retreat with swiftness,” says Chahal.
And for Nupur, she will be placing her medals in the family cabinet. “It’s my grandfather’s strength that guides me,” she says.
