New Delhi: Rajasthan does not have much of a reputation in boxing. Till recently that is. The state is now punching above its weight in the ring. At the recent women’s boxing national championships in Greater Noida, three Rajasthan boxers medalled.
Sunita Saharan (51kg), Lalita Guleria (70kg) and Shweta (75) won bronze medals keeping up with the recent trend of the sport taking impressive strides in the state. Jaipur’s Lakshya Chahar, the reigning national champion in the light heavyweight category, and Kota’s Arundhati Choudhary, a world youth champion (2021), are already established names in the domestic circuit. Both competed at the Paris Olympics qualifiers.
The route to the success for Rajasthan boxers comes through Bhiwani – the heartland of Indian boxing. The city shares its border with the state, and has emerged as Rajasthan’s training base. They take admission in boxing clubs in Bhiwani and stay on rent for months closer to competitions.
That is because the facilities in Rajasthan do not match the spike in interest. “We have to come to Bhiwani to train because there are no good quality coaching facilities in the state,” said Shweta.
Shweta, who is from Ajmer, spent eight months in Bhiwani preparing for the national championship. “I stay in rented accommodation and train under Jagdish Singh Sir. Generally, I go there during summers or before tournaments, but this time I had to stay longer in Bhiwani because the nationals were postponed several times,” said the 26-year-old who will be part of the national camp for the first time.
Bhiwani Boxing Club, where Dronacharya Award winner Jagdish Singh runs the training, is a favourite destination of Rajasthan boxers. Sunita (51kg) and Lalita (70kg) have also trained there at different points in their career.
Once preliminary training is over, the boxers look to get into the SAI’s National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) in Rohtak. “There are around 15 boys and girls from Rajasthan at NCOE Rohtak currently. The state is fast becoming a fertile ground for boxers. At the age-group level, there are some promising boxers from the state,” said coach Bhaskar Bhatt, who has recently retired as SAI’s High-Performance Director, Boxing.
Several boxers are from Churu in Rajasthan which borders Bhiwani. Sunita, who comes from a farmers’ family in Churu, began her journey from Bhiwani before being admitted to NCOE. However, she had to leave in 2023 because of form. “I was not able to show results and was asked to leave. That came as a jolt,” said Sunita.
It pushed her to raise her level. She was back at training in Bhiwani last year and won medals in university competitions. Now, she has her first national championships medal. “That period made me stronger and I was able to push myself this year,” she said.
Lalita, a medallist at Asian Youth championships, was rather disappointed with her show considering that she had won gold in the previous edition. She took to the sport following her aunt Kavita Chahal — the two-time world championships medallist from Haryana in +81kg.
Arundhati, however, trained in Kota under a wushu coach Ashok Gautam. “I just wanted to box and there was no coach in Kota. So, I trained under my coach who watched videos of boxing and gave instruction. There was just one indoor hall – more of a small room – where I trained. Sometimes I had to train outdoors,” she said.
Arundhati had a passion for boxing and soon started winning at national age group level and got selected to India camps. After her success, Kota has been assigned a Khelo India Centre of boxing with a coach. “A lot has to be done in terms of facilities, but I am happy that at least something has come up for young boxers to train in Kota.”
