Behind Haryana girls’ boxing glory, mothers with unwavering belief
For Joginder Kaur and Sunita Hooda, the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool was a dream come true. Watching their daughters — Jaismine Lamboria of Bhiwani and Minakshi Hooda of Rorki, Rohtak — topple Paris Olympics medallists and top seeds to emerge champions filled them with pride, reinforcing their faith that daughters can rise and shine even in a patriarchal society.
For Joginder Kaur and Sunita Hooda, the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool was a dream come true. Watching their daughters — Jaismine Lamboria of Bhiwani and Minakshi Hooda of Rorki, Rohtak — topple Paris Olympics medallists and top seeds to emerge champions filled them with pride, reinforcing their faith that daughters can rise and shine even in a patriarchal society.
Minakshi got past Kazakh Paris Olympics bronze medallist Nazym Kyzaibay 4-1 in the women’s 48kg final on September 14, while Bhiwani’s Jaismine rallied to stun Polish Olympics silver medallist Julia Szeremeta 4-1 in the 57kg summit clash late on September 13.
The male members in both the Jat families were against the idea of the girls pursuing a career in boxing but their mothers stood by them in the early days. In 2018, Minakshi, the youngest of four siblings – two other sisters and one brother, had decided to pursue a career in boxing, which was considered a game for males in the Jat hinterland at that time and her father Shri Krishan Hooda, an auto driver was against the idea. Her two sisters are married and brother is working as a fireman in Delhi.
Sharing the struggle of initial days, her mother Sunita Hooda told HT that she talked to her parents and other relatives to convince her husband to allow Minakshi to join other girls in the village boxing academy.
“I met village coach Vijay Hooda who convinced my husband to let Minakshi join the academy as she was tall for her age. Initially, I used to send Minakshi to the boxing academy in the village when her father left the house for the auto work in Rohtak. People used to taunt us that nobody will marry her, if any part of her body gets fractured. Locals said in earlier days that boxing is not a game for girls and you can’t bear expenses to make her a player,” Sunita added.
Sunita said that her husband had been driving a rented auto for several years. He used to save ₹120-200 per day and she sold milk of two buffaloes to run the household.
“I had faith in my daughter that she will make us proud one day. Minakshi has been training thrice a day for the last seven years and it was not an easy journey. We still don’t have a television at home, however, I watched every punch of the final match on my mobile phone. Then, I informed my husband about her triumph in the boxing championship and asked him to drop passengers earliest and come home at the earliest. He was ferrying passengers in his auto when Minakshi won the final bout,” she added.
Sunita said that she sold buffalo milk to provide fruit and dry fruit to her daughter, besides giving her home made desi ghee, churma and milk.
“In 2022, she joined Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) as a constable and was posted in Panchkula. She still trains at the village boxing academy and sometimes at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Rohtak. She had bought an old auto for her father. My husband has been assisting Minakshi in her district, state and national tournaments by skipping his auto work. We are hopeful that she will clinch the gold medal in the next Olympics,” Sunita added.
Jaismine Lamboria’s grand-father was a retired honorary captain from the Indian army. In 2016 she started training under her uncle Sandeep who was a constable in the Haryana Police. Her father Jaiveer is a home guard and mother Joginder Kaur is a housewife. She has two elder sisters and a younger brother, who had opted for the sport of shooting last year. Jaismine is pursuing PG Diploma in Physical Education from Lovely Professional university and she has joined Indian army as Hawaldar in 2021.
Her mother Joginder Kaur said that Jaismine desired to play boxing in 2016 and then she conveyed the same to her husband, who turned down the request.
“Then, I shared this with my brother-in-law Sandeep, who was a national-level boxer and part of our joint family. He talked to my father-in-law and assured him that Jaismine is a boxer by-birth as she has good height and less weight. Sandeep took her to Madhuban in Karnal, where he was posted and the next year, Sandeep joined as a coach in the Haryana government. He started training her,” she added.
Kaur said that her father-in-law had passed away three months after her daughter started training as a boxer in 2016 and they faced financial hiccups when it came to providing Jaismine with things like rented gloves and diet.
“We had one and a half-acre of land and at that time my husband was unemployed. It was not easy to bear the expenses of four children. I had sold ghee and milk to help my husband in running the house. Jaismine was underweight and people mocked her for it. Our joint family remained intact and supported Jaismine throughout the journey. Now, we want to watch her winning gold in the Olympics,” she added.
