It was a typically playful day in the life of 12-year-old Nitu Ghanghas in Dhanana, until it took a rather serious turn in the evening. Her father, Jai Bhagwan, had returned from Bhiwani, less than 20km from her village in Haryana, with a message for his daughter. “Tera naam likhwaya hai boxing mein (I have enrolled you in boxing),” Nitu said.
She’d never heard of the sport before, let alone watch or understand its nuances. Nitu was an active child in school and Jai Bhagwan took it upon himself to explore a suitable path for his kid to pursue a sport. Any sport. With Bhiwani the hotbed of boxing and Bhiwani Boxing Club its cradle, the choice was made for Nitu.
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That was 2012, when Nitu placed her first step in boxing. This is 2022, when Nitu assured India of its first boxing medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG).
The 21-year-old ensured at least bronze by bossing the 48kg quarter-final as her opponent Nicole Clyde, reduced to tears between rounds, abandoned the bout after the second. Nitu was all over the Northern Ireland pugilist, with whom she had trained in the Indian contingent’s practice camp in Ireland before the CWG. Nitu was confident of bringing her dominance over Clyde from rounds of practice into the ring for the contest, just as she is confident of the medal colour on her CWG debut.
Her father isn’t around here, but Nitu knows he was watching back home. “He doesn’t miss any of my bouts. I know how happy he must be with my medal here,” Nitu said.
In her village in Haryana, girls taking to sport didn’t fit into the social norms. Jai Bhagwan couldn’t care less. “It was his only wish that I get into sports,” Nitu said. The resolute father also took a three-year unpaid leave of absence from his job in Chandigarh Vidhan Sabha and shifted to Bhiwani to be at Nitu’s beck and call. “He currently stays at home and hasn’t got any pay. We live in a big joint family, so my uncle’s income from farming takes care of our day-to-day living,” Nitu said.
Nurtured by coach Jagdish Singh—the man behind many a power-packed boxers from Bhiwani including 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh—Nitu’s boxing journey and pedigree took shape. She won bronze in the Youth Women’s Nationals in 2016, and one of her first boxing lessons upon joining the senior national camp was to learn about the legend of Mary Kom.
“I saw her photos, videos, and eventually also saw her in the camp once. I kept observing her—ki Mary Kom aise dikhti hai, aise khelti hai (that she looks like this, fights like this),” Nitu said.
Mary Kom would also play a role in her getting to Birmingham. At the selection trials for the CWG, Mary Kom sustained a leg injury that forced her to withdraw from the first round. Watching those dramatic scenes unfold inside the ring was Nitu, who went on to beat 2019 World Championships silver medallist Manju Rani to own the 48kg berth by right.
“It was hard luck that she (Mary Kom) got injured. I came here instead of her, so I had to give my 100% in the ring. I have been training for this for years,” Nitu said.
A big boost for Nitu came about months earlier, when she won the Strandja Memorial event in February. She also made the quarter-finals of the World Championships in May in which, despite fever the night before her last-eight bout, she fought hard before losing in a split 2-3 verdict to Kazakhstan’s Alua Balkibekova, the eventual silver medallist.
Bhaskar Bhatt, head coach of the Indian women’s team, forsaw a world-class boxer in the making during the Youth World Championships in 2018 in Budapest, where Nitu defended her gold. “She’s very cool outside the ring—doesn’t talk a whole lot. But once inside the ring, puri khatarnaak hai (she is really dangerous). She spares no one,” he said.
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