Boxer Puja Rani's Hand Got Burnt, But She Returned To Win An Asian Gold For India. Respect!
Boxer Pooja Rani badly burnt her right hand while bursting crackers on Diwali. Against all odds she was back to her practice routine more than a year later. Then came a debilitating shoulder injury to most watchers it seemed that the 28-year-olds boxing career was over. But the doughty boxer from Nimriwali village in Haryanas Bhiwani district wasnt done yet. After a two-year hiatus Pooja scripted a fairytale comeback by becoming the national cham...Read More
Nearly three years ago, boxer Pooja Rani badly burnt her right hand while bursting crackers on Diwali. Against all odds, she was back to her practice routine more than a year later. Then came a debilitating shoulder injury. To most watchers, it seemed that the 28-year-old's boxing career was over.
But the doughty boxer from Nimriwali village in Haryana's Bhiwani district wasn't done yet. After a two-year hiatus, Pooja scripted a fairytale comeback by becoming the national champion in the 81kg category in 2018.
On Friday, Pooja stunned world champion Wang Lina in the final of the Asian championship in Bangkok to win the gold medal.
"In 2016, I burnt my hand while bursting Diwali crackers. The right hand was massively affected. I underwent a surgery and it took me nearly seven to eight months to heal. The entire recovery process lasted nearly a year," Pooja told TOI.
"After my shoulder injury, many people thought my career was finished. But then I made a comeback at the 2018 Nationals and became the national champion and now I am also the Asian champion," she said.
Was all alone with no backing: Pooja
When her hand recovered, Pooja had begun to practice again before she suffered another setback. "Then at the end of 2017, such was my luck that I met with a disastrous shoulder injury. The doctors found there was a labrum tear and told me that I will be out of the sport for a considerable length of time.
"But I didn't go for surgery because that would have meant a lengthy lay-off. I decided on physiotherapy and thankfully it worked for me. During those days, I was all alone with no backing," the boxer said.
Recalling how it all started for her, Pooja said, "I started boxing in 2009 when I had joined college after completing my 10+2. I joined the Hawa Singh Boxing Academy in Bhiwani where my coach was Sanjay Sheoran. My coach's wife was a lecturer in my college. She told me that I should start boxing because I was blessed with a good height (5 feet 8 inches)," she said.
Convincing her father - sub-inspector Rajbir Singh - to support her boxing was a task in itself.
"Initially, my father, who is employed with the Haryana Police, had flatly refused and told me not to get into boxing. He didn't like boxing since he believed it was a maar-dhaar sport not suitable for girls. He thought my face will get disfigured. But my coach wanted that I should box; so he met my father and somehow made him understand that my face won't be affected. My father relented after six months of continuous persuasion.
"Even after that when I used to go back home after practice, my father used to check if I suffered any bruises or not. If my face got bruised in a bout I used to stay back at my coach's place so that my father wouldn't know. I feared that he would not let me box any more if he came to know," the six-time national champion reminisced.
AFP
A medal at the youth Nationals in 2009 changed the dynamics at home.
"When I got a silver medal at the youth Nationals, my father started supporting me and has believed in me since then. Our relatives used to tell my parents 'why are you sending your daughter out of the house in the wee hours? Something bad might happen to her', but my parents didn't pay heed to their trash talk. In my entire journey of becoming a boxer, my mother (Damyanti Devi) gave me unflinching support," Pooja, who idolises two-time world and Olympic champion Claressa Shields of the US, said.