Nitu packs a punch, thanks to her father

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 18 

She made the headlines with her gold medal finish at the 36th Golden Glove of Vojvodina in Subotica, Serbia, but pugilist Nitu Ghanghas would have never been able to fight had her father not taken a three-year leave without pay to concentrate on her career.

A native of Dhanana village in Haryana's Bhiwani district, Nitu was reluctant to step into the ring but it was on her father Jai Bhagwan's insistence that she took up the boxing gloves. 

Nitu would ride 70km daily with Bhagwan to practice at the Bhiwani Boxing Club, the stable of Indian boxing, as she had no means to commute except her father's scooter.     

"I took her to Bhiwani Boxing Club and the coaches there said she can be a boxer but needs more attention. I had to take a stand for my daughter and I decided to take a three-year leave and be with her," recalled Bhagwan, a class III employee at the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. 

But going on leave without pay for three years was not easy as Bhagwan needed money to look after the households and take care of Nitu's diet. For this, he took a loan from his relatives. 

"Things had to be managed somehow. I have a small piece of agricultural land and I worked on it for a while. I also took a loan of Rs 5-6 lakh," said Bhagwan. 

Bhagwan, though, is happy that his efforts have borne fruit and he would now be able to resume duty and pay off the loan. "Now she is quite settled and I can resume my office and pay off the loans," he said with a sigh of relief.  

Work in progress

Nitu, a BA first year student at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, is currently attending a national camp in Rohtak, which is meant to prepare the Indian team for the upcoming AIBA Youth Women's and Men's World Boxing Championships to be held in Hungary from August 20. 

"I started boxing in 2012 and since then there has been no looking back. My father always wanted me to be a boxer," said Nitu.  

"After shifting to Bhiwani Club it was tough to cope up with travelling and practice but my father supported me throughout," the 17-year-old added. Nitu caught the eye of renowned boxing coach Jagdish Singh, who helped Vijender Singh win the Beijing Olympic bronze medal, during the national championships and since then she has been training under his watch.

"I won my first gold for Haryana in 2015. I must say it was best performance and luckily I got into good hands," said Nitu. "Another proud moment was the gold medal finish in the World Championships." 

"I am now ready for a big stage," added a confident Nitu.She, however, did not forget to credit her father for the success. "I am thankful to my father who left his job to support me. It's great to see his smiling face and it's an inspiration too," she said.