A month ago at a felicitation ceremony for Indian boxers who had medalled at the two World Boxing Cup Finals, Indian head coach Chandralal D went through pains to explain how despite returning with a silver medal, Minakshi Hooda deserved to be on the same pedestal as the gold-medal winners. The Indian camp felt that the 48kg boxer had won in Kazakhstan but home advantage led to Nazym Kzaibay being awarded that final.
Just a month later, Minakshi grabbed the second chance she had received – and that too in a tournament of far greater consequence. The Indian, who had beaten 2023 48kg World Champion Nitu Ghanghas at the senior nationals to make it to the World Championship squad, edged past Kzaibay, in Liverpool on Sunday, to win a redemptive gold medal.
While 48kg might be a non-Olympic category, it is one of the few instances in Indian boxing where the competition domestically tends to be tougher than the international level. Most of the boxers in the weight category have to go up and face 51kg boxers for a chance to be a part of the Indian Olympic team. Winning a gold medal at the Worlds, outside of India, is starting to become the bare minimum. Doing so against a three-time World Champion, who also won a bronze medal in Nikhat Zareen’s weight class at the Paris Olympics, is the cherry on top of that deserved sundae on Sunday.
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Boxing coach Vijay Hooda with his trainees watching Minakshi Hooda’s semifinal bout in the World Boxing Championship in England, at Shaheed Batoon Singh Stadium, village Roorkee. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Proud father
As his daughter Minakshi won the title in Liverpool, her father Srikrishna was waiting to ferry passengers in his second-hand auto rickshaw in front of Sir Chhotu Ram Stadium in Rohtak, the very place from where Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik started her career.
It has been the routine for Srikrishna for the last 30 years but on Sunday, the auto-rickshaw driver was telling anyone who would listen about his daughter’s feats and how she is now a world champion. “She only had the passion and willpower to box and that’s what has made her go so far. I could only support her dreams in whatever way I could. Every day I take passengers in an auto in Rohtak to earn my living but let Minakshi come, I will take a world champion to our village Kiloi,” said an emotional Srikrishna while speaking to The Indian Express.
Ram Krishan, father of Minakshi Hooda, who won gold medal in World Boxing Championship in England,waiting for passengers at Sheela Bypass in Rohtak. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
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Back at the village Rurkee Kiloi, 15 kms from Rohtak, famous for truck drivers in the region, coach Vijay Hooda went back to train the 60 odd girl trainees at the Shaheed Batun Singh Stadium post watching the final bout. The coach, who has trained the likes of 2017 World Youth Champion Jyoti Gulia, would be the first to ask a printer in Rohtak to get the posters made of his trainee. “To start her boxing dreams with borrowed shoes and training gear to become the world champion today, Minakshi has seen it all and it’s just the start for her,” says Hooda.
High-level of fitness
What has set apart Minakshi’s World Championships run has been the ability to steam through three rounds without skipping a beat. Against Kzaibay, the Indian coaching staff had asked her to be proactive and win the first round decisively. But it was the second round where the Indian was truly challenged.
Kzaibay knew that for a win, she would have to go all out in the second. And the Kazakh boxer did just that, ducking her head and landing wild right overhands. It stunned the Indian and set up a last-round-takes-all final. “At the end of the second, I told her to look for scoring shots and warned her against getting a point deducted since the margins were so fine,” said Chandralal D from Liverpool. He then added, “In the last round we asked her to use three-punch combinations because we knew at least one would land.”
But the Indian’s superior fitness, which had led to some frenetic bouts, continued against the Kazakh who faded when she needed to stand tall the most. Both had their moments of sloppiness in the final round but the Indian swayed four of the five judges to register the second Indian gold at these World Championships. It was a reversal worth its weight in gold, against a worthy opponent, after the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup final medal.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
