NISHO (NAGOYA): Players have weird ways to celebrate or pump themselves up. Some like Rafael Nadal echoed 'vamos' with ferocity; some say 'come on or yes!'; 'Fight, fight' are some other lexicons that are used too.
It's rare when a player uses another expression as strange as: Deputy director, deputy director! Parveen Hooda drew just that on Friday. There is a reason behind it. The Haryana government offers a Deputy Director's job if a player wins Asian Games gold. And Parveen wanted this gold with all her heart. It was a much-needed balm on her wounds of life.
The Nishio region in Aichi Prefecture is unique. It is on the coast of the Pacific with both flood plains and highlands. It is washed by the waters of Yahagi River — a region that supported civilization during prehistoric times. Annual rainfall touches more than 1500mm as the river plays a significant role in the agrarian life of the region. It helps in a rich harvest — from rice to matcha (ground green tea). Inside the Tyson Hall, Indians were having a field day. They are reaping harvests of hard work sown over the past 12 months or so.
The Indian boxers, especially women, have been making a habit of rewriting history — a record show in World Championships in 2025 followed by a new high in the Commonwealth Games earlier this year. On Friday, Parveen, Lovlina Borgohain and Ankush Panghal maintained the trend by helping the team return with its best-ever show — three gold and as many bronze medals — in the Games.
Parveen has not returned the last Asian Games bronze medal after she was banned for 22 months because of whereabouts failure. She preferred to keep it as a reminder to her hard work and also her folly. It is right in the middle of all medals she has won. Winning and then losing a medal is not common. The moral trepidation that follows is even more trying. "I had gone through some torrid times," she said after winning the gold, beating Chen Nien-chin of Chinese Taipei 3-2. Tears swelled in her eyes in between words.
There were tears when she had lost in the aforementioned Commonwealth Games too — she was one of the rare misses then. She couldn't take the loss. It was devastating. If whereabouts disturbed her mentally, her father's health scare almost crushed her. It drained her emotionally. That makes this gold even more special.
"I was mentally feeling very low, thinking everything was over and I had to start over from zero," she recollected those days of struggle. Because of turmoil in both personal and professional life, there was only one way she could have recovered — get back to boxing, the sport that let her forget about life for a while.
"I realised that if I didn't make a comeback — even though I was sad for a few days — I reset my mind. I knew that if I didn't train or make a comeback, I would spend my whole life regretting that a small mistake cost me everything. So I decided to reclaim everything back, with interest."
The whereabouts failure was her carelessness. That has taught her to be more responsible. The Parveen during the last Asian Games to this there has been a philosophical change. It showed in her fight inside the ring. She started on a confident note but lost the second round. The bout was in the balance heading into the deciding round. Three years ago, Parveen would have tackled it differently. Not this time. The deputy director chants kept her alive.
Chen is a World Championships bronze medallist. Her story is as inspiring as Parveen's if not more. Chen was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2019. She recovered after chemotherapy. "She is my inspiration," said Parveen. "Her story motivates me."
"When my opponent took the second round, everything came down to the third round. In Haryana, they award a deputy director job for winning a gold medal, which is my dream job. So I just remembered, 'Oh, Deputy Director!' and then I went out and took the round in my favour."
Parveen is not stopping with this gold here. Next target is the Olympics. "When I came here, my mindset was to fight all the bouts and evaluate everything properly. The main goal is the Olympics, and this is all preparation for that to see where we stand at the world level."
Women's coach Santiago Nieva was by her side in the ring, closely monitoring the action. Parveen was guilty of going inside a bit too much. The team's strategy was to fight from a distance, which is her strength. "Her first round was outstanding, extraordinary," he said. "Obviously, she was facing a very experienced and strong opponent. From our side, the second round looked very close. Unfortunately, all five judges went against us."
Third round becomes tricky and usually favours the boxer who makes a comeback, even for judges. Nieva understood the danger and advised her accordingly. "She was crowding herself a little bit too much, getting too much inside where there's no clear scoring and she's not as strong," he said "So she needed more clear scoring from the outside. She needed to prepare her attacks and not rush in, and to stay cool."
That worked.
Fast-rising Ankush
Ankush comes across as a man of few words. It needs a bit of coaxing and nudging before he starts to reply. His father was a kabaddi player. Naturally, Ankush started his sporting journey with kabaddi. The Haryana pugilist did not feel too comfortable with team sports so he took up the gloves.
Ankush, who beat Kim Minseong of South Korea 4-0 in the men's 80kg final, felt that sparring with different opponents helped the team bolster their game. "You get to know how the opponents will be coming," he said. His win against Fazliddin Erkinboev, reigning world champ in 75kg from Uzbekistan, was one of the highlights.
Men's team head coach CA Kutappa gave a detailed description of his bout. Their focus was to not back away when someone comes forward to attack. "You should throw a punch over their punch rather than staying defensive," said Kuttappa. "Wherever he opens up, hit right over it. He played really well against Uzbekistan like that. I always teach him to go punch-for-punch. If you stay on the defensive while the opponent throws three or four punches, your defense won't hold up."
Many happy returns of the day
Senior pro Lovlina had turned back the clock to set the tone earlier. Celebrating her 29th birthday, the experienced pro outwitted Bao Ziyi of China — reigning Asian champion — in the women's 75kg final.by unanimous verdict (5-0). Having won a silver in the last edition, this is a statement display by the Assam pugilist. It's naturally a 'very special' victory for her. "It's very special. I think it's the first time that I got a present for myself. It's a very special birthday, and I think I have already celebrated because I got gold," Lovlina said after the final.