When Manju Rani took the flight to Bulgaria to participate in the prestigious Strandja Memorial Tournament earlier this month, she was a bit overwhelmed. It was her first overseas tour and there was a lot to be done to boost her own confidence, even if that meant not securing a podium finish.
After all, the journey from Rithal village in Haryana to Strandja via Punjab had enough turbulence for the youngster to be a little anxious about grabbing the opportunity that came her way.
But the 20-year-old exceeded her own expectations when she bagged the silver medal in the 48 kg weight category on Tuesday after losing the final against 2012 world championship gold medallist Josie Gabuco of Philippines.
“It was a good final and I had a chance. But then, I got a penalty for punching after the referee had asked to stop and then I couldn’t make a comeback,” Manju told Scroll.in from Bulgaria.
But Manju isn’t complaining. She was picked for the national camp after winning the senior Nationals gold medal in her very first appearance, knows that getting an opportunity after three years in the wilderness was a good start and all she wanted was to impress the coaches and selectors with her performance.
Manju started boxing in 2014, won the junior nationals the same year, and then got caught in the factionalism in Haryana. “I played and won the state championship for last three years organised by the federation which was earlier affiliated to now defunct All India Boxing Federation. But the new state federation never gave me a chance and so I moved to Punjab,” said the youngster who is pursuing a B.PEd degree from Lovely Professional University.
“I wasn’t part of the national camp even in my junior days. So this was a big jump for me,” she added.
But making it to the national camp after taking up the sport was just one hurdle.
Manju had to wait for four years just to wear those boxing gloves and enter the ring after she first thought of playing the sport back in 2010. However, she failed to convince her ailing father – who worked with the Border Security Force – to let her pursue the sport.
His death a few months later meant that Manju and her family had concentrate on earning a living and the idea of taking up boxing took a back seat.
She then tried her hand at kabaddi but struggled to put together a team to play tournaments before renewing her focus on boxing in 2014. “Saheb Singh [Narwal] uncle used to take our kabaddi training,” Manju said. “But since it was a team sport and we couldn’t get enough number of girls to play so we were shifted to boxing.”
Manju admits that anger was her driving force at the start as she coming to terms with life after her fathers death. “I have inherited my temper from my father. Boxing provides my anger an outlet most of the time. Now whenever I am angry, I vent it on the punching bag or on the opponent if I am in the ring.”
Manju knows that mere aggression isn’t going to help her excel on the international stage and has been working on the technical aspects of her game since joining the camp. “Everything has changed now after joining the camp. There are good sparring partners and I want to now make the most of it.
“The first challenge for me now is the Asian Championship trials and now that I have made my international debut, I now want to win as many medals for the country,” said Manju, who dreams of walking on the footsteps of her idol Mary Kom and make it to the Olympics one day.
It is going to be a long road for Manju to achieve that dream. But the light-fly boxer definitely knows the importance of patience and perseverance, and that she is just off the blocks.