Want to fulfil mom’s dreams, says pugilist Simranjit

By Ezaz Ahmed

New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) Simranjit Kaur Baath, silver medalist at the Asian Boxing Championship, held in Bangkok recently, has credited her success to mother Rajpal Kaur and said she would strive to keep performing well to fulfil the mom's dreams.

Simranjit went down fighting the reigning World Champion Dou Dan in the final of the 64kg category at the championship and had to settle for silver.

Speaking to IANS, the 23-year-old said: "I started boxing in 2010 and the journey has so far been pretty good. My mother supported me a lot through all these years. Wherever I play, she is there to cheer me."

Simranjit, a resident of Patiala, Punjab, said: "In the beginning my father didn't want me to take up boxing as a career. But my mother stood by me. When I started winning medals, he also started believing in me."

"When I first entered the senior camp, the pugilist were mostly from Haryana. In the early days, I had to suffer a lot of punches. Then I made up my mind to practice hard and move ahead," said the boxer who had bagged bronze at the last year's world championship.

On the boxing scenario in Punjab, Simranjit said the environment was good but some improvement would help pugilists perform better at the national level.

"The environment is good for this game in Punjab. But compared with other games, it needs improvement. The focus is on kabaddi. Punjab has more talent than Haryana, but we lack support. The boxing association of Punjab is supportive, but it's not getting the required backing from the government it deserves," she said.

(Ezaz Ahmed can be contacted at ezaz.a@ians.in)