CHENNAI: Ever since her budding days, boxer Sakshi Chaudhary has displayed her aptitude inside the squared circle. Junior world champ — check. Youth world champ — check (twice). However, at the elite level, things had not gone as expected. The youngster had fallen behind and was forced to go back to the drawing board and re-discover herself. But now, her career trajectory seems to be back on track.
On Sunday, the 24-year-old, who was inspired by former champion boxer Vijender Singh's feats to take up the gloves, returned with a gold medal in the women's 54kg weight category at the World Boxing Cup in Astana, Kazakhstan. The youngster, who comes from the famed Bhiwani Boxing Club (BBC), won by unanimous verdict (5-0) against USA's Yoseline Perez in the gold-medal bout.
This gold comes after her dominant performance during the national championships in Greater Noida earlier this year. The boxer, who hails from Dhanana village in Bhiwani, Haryana had won a couple of bouts by RSC verdicts (referees stop contest when the fights are one-sided) including the gold-medal bout.
Noted coach Jagdish Singh, founder of BBC, is someone who has guided her since Day 1. He was not too thrilled with the way she performed in the final but was satisfied by her overall effort during the campaign.
"She has improved quite a lot. Her left jab is her strength and uses it effectively. She did very well against the English and Brazilian boxers in the preliminary rounds. In the semis, she was up against a hard-hitting boxer from Uzbekistan and she did really well. I had suggested that she operate from long distance and she did really well," Jagdish, who has had a hand in producing many champion pugilists including Vijender, told this daily.
When results were not going in her favour not so long ago, Jagdish had asked her to introspect and retain faith in her abilities. "She is very honest and never makes any excuses. I wanted her to improve the psychological aspect of the game. I have always had faith in her and would tell her, 'you're the best.' She can do even better. I was telling her the other day, 'you're using just 60 per cent of your talent.' She can do even better. I make her spar with the boys when she comes here and she crushes them quite often. The boys are afraid to go up against her."
Sakshi, who is in the Indian Army, is now in the position of strength and one of the favourites to be one of the contenders during the World Championships in England later this year. Sakshi and the other 54kg pugilists will be part of the evaluation process soon during the national camp. Jagdish wants his ward to keep pushing. "The signs are positive at the moment and she's moving the right direction. I would want her to use this win as a motivation going forward."
India finish with 11 medals
Jaismine Lamboria (57kg) and Nupur (80+kg) also won a gold each as India ended the campaign with three gold, five silver and three bronze medals. Meenakshi (women's 48kg), Pooja Rani (women's 80kg), Jugnoo (men's 85kg), Hitesh Gulia (men's 70kg) and Abhinash Jamwal (men's 65kg) bagged a silver medal each.