CHENNAI: Boxing is in her blood and she packs a heavy punch. Nupur Sheoran is in the process of building her family's rich legacy. Granddaughter of legendary pugilist, captain Hawa Singh, one of country's first icons in the combat sport, the 26-year-old grinded out a fighting victory to become the first from India to secure a medal at the ongoing World Boxing Championships at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool on Wednesday.
Her father Sanjay Kumar, who is also a former certified boxer, is filled with pride. Moreover, her mother also has a sporting background, having represented the country in basketball. Sanjay is stoked to witness his daughter carry on the family's legacy. "Her grandfather was a great boxer, Asian gold medallist, I was an Asian medallist and now my daughter is now a Worlds medallist. It can't get better than this," Sanjay, who manages the Captain Hawa Singh Boxing Academy in Bhiwani, told The New Indian Express.
Taking nothing away from Nupur's medal-winning output, it has to be noted that this was her first fight in the ongoing marquee competition and the luck of the draw was clearly on her side. This could be possible because the +80kg category is not part of the 2028 LA Olympics programme. But the Railways pugilist, who received a first-round bye, still had to slog hard to get the W on the day while facing Oltinoy Sotimboeva of Uzbekistan in the +80kg women's last-eight fight. Moreover, Nupur had exhibited her promise during the second stage of the World Cup in Astana not so long ago by capturing the gold medal.
Coming from a rich sporting background can also have its drawbacks. People, in general, expect them to be extra special and the weight of expectations can be overpowering. Sanjay, a former multiple national champ, would have felt that first-hand and he does not want his daughter to suffer. Sanjay said that Nupur was calm ahead of the marquee event. "Before the event, she was saying 'Papa, koi tension nahi hai (father, I'm not carrying any stress). I'll do well'. We, as parents, tend to take a lot of stress. But I try to refrain from doing that. I had just asked her to express herself inside the ring and come back with a victory."
Inside the ring on the day, it was predominantly a messy affair with the referee intervening action due to clinching on numerous occasions. Against a slightly taller rival, Nupur was looking to land overhand punches, albeit unsuccessfully. But in the midst of chaos (the Indian also fell on the floor due to push), Nupur did manage to sneak in some point-scoring blows. That reflected in the judges' scorecard as Nupur won the round 4-1.
Behind on points, the Uzbek boxer was displaying more urgency and was swinging hard. But so was Nupur, in bid to keep her opponent at bay. There was plenty of coming together once again with Nupur once again falling flat on the floor towards the closing stages. But this time it was Sotimboeva who got the votes from three judges, making the tie interesting. Going into the final three-minute round, four judges had the two all square while one had handed a slight advantage to Nupur.
The final round had some form of drama as both the boxers were deducted points for foul play in the early seconds. Both were going all out but once again there was plenty of grabbing and clinching. In the last 60 seconds or so, Nupur landed a couple of thumping combination punches, something that would have appealed to the judges who voted the contest 4-1 in her favour.
As soon as the referee raised her hand, Nupur was visibly animated. This might have been just her first fight in the event, but the victory sure is a significant milestone in her fairly young career.
Jaismine blooms, Nikhat misses out
Later, Jaismine Lamboria (women's 57kg) put up a boxing clinic to follow the footsteps of Nupur. Having secured the semifinal ticket, she'll now return with at least a bronze medal. She was too good for Khumorabonu Mamajonova of Uzbekistan and won by 5-0 verdict. However, former two-time champion Nikhat Zareen missed out on a medal after going down to two-time Olympic medallist Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey in the women's 51kg quarterfinals.