They’re pioneers of ladies’s boxing who made a mark when the game was taking child steps. Two of them – MC Mary Kom and Sarita Devi – are family names however KC Lekha and RL Jenny are hardly ever talked about. All of the 4 received gold when India hosted the world championships for the primary time right here in 2006, six years earlier than ladies’s boxing made its Olympic debut in London.
Mary Kom had quickly risen, successful gold in 2002 and 2005 and India was staging the fourth version. The hosts received 4 gold, one silver and three bronze, and it was the perfect commercial for girls’s boxing in India. Indian boxers haven’t seemed again since. Mary Kom received bronze within the London Olympics and Lovlina Borgohain bronze at Tokyo in 2021.
As the most recent championships is on, the pioneers of 2006 look again on their early days. For Lekha, 41, and Jenny, 39, a authorities job and household took priority whereas Mary Kom, 40, remains to be not formally retired.
“It feels nice to see ladies’s boxing in India doing so good,” says Jenny, who’s a police officer in Mizoram. “We’re proud we contributed to the success of the game.”
Jenny (63kg) and Lekha (75kg and +81kg) are nine-time nationwide champions and medallists within the Asian Championships.
“We had such ardour and starvation to win medals for the nation. Household, buddies, every part took a backseat. There have been few services at camps, however we by no means complained,” says Lekha, an officer within the Kerala finance division based mostly in Thiruvananthapuram.
Lekha remembers how the Indian squad scrambled to achieve the primary worlds in Scranton, United States. “We thought we received’t have the ability to compete. There was an issue in getting visa. We acquired it very late and rushed to the airport. After a 24-hour flight we reached simply hours earlier than the beginning of the championships. From the airport, we went straight to the world. I had my bout so simply turned into my gear and there I used to be competing within the first world championships. I misplaced to a Canadian boxer by simply two factors; she went on to win a medal.”
Mary Kom opened the account for India, successful silver in 45kg. “The drive, the starvation we had in these days was one thing completely different,” says the six-time world champion. “It’s like ‘as soon as I’m within the ring, I’ve to win at any price’.”
When India hosted, the younger brigade was decided to make it successful. Lekha misplaced many kilos to enter 75kg as a result of the coaches felt she stood a greater medal probability. “I was in superheavy as a result of I used to be round 89kg… We might practice thrice a day. The one factor in my thoughts was a world medal,” says Lekha.
“When the 4 of us turned world champions on the Talkatora Stadium, it was such an excellent feeling. There was good crowd assist, however no one knew that India had 4 world champions. There was no social media like at the moment. However we had been so pleased.”
Jenny too remembers that crowning second.
“Girls’s boxing was not within the Olympics, so changing into world champion was the most important achievement. Seeing my identify, and the Indian flag being raised, was so emotional,” says Jenny. “We had seen robust instances. We didn’t even have sufficient punching baggage to coach. Our camps can be in Delhi, Bengaluru, Patiala. We used to scrub the place, put up a hoop and practice. At some centres there was no fitness center, so coaches would organize weights. However all of us, coaches and boxers, had been like one massive household. So many instances there have been points in choice, or only some weight classes acquired permission for internationals, however we stood by one another.”
A midnight run
They weren’t averse to taking over the directors although. Lekha remembers how she, Mary Kom and Sarita left a camp in Hissar, Haryana at midnight as a result of the services had been unhealthy. “It was a camp for the Asian Championships. It was very popular and organisation was so unhealthy; there was no water. So, we left the camp and got here to Delhi in the course of the night time. The federation officers referred to as the following morning, spoke to us and shifted the camp to Patiala,” says Lekha.
The attention-grabbing factor was boxing simply occurred to them. Lekha was into athletics at school and school. When Chennai hosted the primary ladies’s nationwide championships, she attended a one-day camp and was chosen within the Kerala state workforce.
“Girls’s boxing was beginning within the nation and the state was in search of boxers. Somebody requested me if I used to be . I didn’t know the principles, simply had energy and was sturdy. I had performed many sports activities at college and that helped.”
Lekha received gold for Kerala and very quickly was within the nationwide camp making ready for the primary worlds within the US.
Jenny grew up enjoying contact sport, making issues simpler. “Contact sport is a part of our tradition and we had some good boxers in Mizoram, so I discovered sooner.”
Lekha and Jenny remorse not going to the Olympics.
“In 2012, I used to be anticipating my first youngster,” says Lekha. The Chinese language woman (Jinzi Li) who received the middleweight bronze in London, I beat her within the closing of the 2006 world championships.”
Jenny retired from the game six years in the past. “There have been few weight classes within the Olympics at the moment and it was very onerous for me.”
However the boxing bond is cherished.
“We’ve some superb reminiscences. So, at any time when we meet – Mary, Sarita, Lekha – we converse for hours. It doesn’t matter if we have now not in months.” says Jenny.