Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh): A boxing coach tries to accomplish his dream by training amateur boxers, and trains a boxer who brings laurels, seems straight out of movie 'Khadoos Saala', right? No, this is the story of coach Rajesh Gupta and his two female boxers, Shilpa Yadav and Aparajita Mani.
Gupta initially started the boxing camp at Kushinagar by training his son and hoped that promising players would come to his camp which turned into reality. In absence of any government help, it became difficult for Gupta to train the boxers. However, he not only managed to nurture players like Mani and Yadav, but due to his coaching, both these players are waving the flag of their success in the state.
Gupta while speaking about the initial struggles said that without any playing field it was difficult for him to train the boxers, however, after requesting a friend, he started training the players in his marriage hall.
Brother's sacrifice helped Shilpa Yadav to achieve her dream
Ramakant Yadav, father of Shilpa Yadav (19), a resident of Hanuman Nagar Paikouli Hata, Kushinagar, representing Uttar Pradesh in the 48 kg weight category in the fifth National Senior Boxing Tournament, is a farmer. Shilpa's father remains unwell. Because of this, his two brothers go to work as labourers while one sister and brother are studying. Yadav is the youngest of five siblings.
According to Shilpa, her younger brother Sunil is a state-level boxing player. Seeing him playing, there was a desire in her to learn boxing. Knowing about it, Sunil helped her to get admitted to the coaching centre. Shilpa, who entered the boxing ring in 2012, won the gold medal from the Gorakhpur division in the Sub Junior Boxing Championship in Jhansi in 2014.
She has won six medals till now. In 2019, during Banaras Youth Boxing Championship, she was awarded the best boxer in the 48 kg weight category. In the ongoing fifth senior national championship, Yadav is the leading boxer. She has won six medals till now. Yadav however, gives the credit of her success to her brother and coach.
Mother's courage made daughter a boxer
Aparajita Mani of Kushinagar, representing Uttar Pradesh in the 57 kg weight category in the fifth senior national tournament, is the daughter of a farmer from Patni village.
Mani is the only sister among the two brothers. Impressed by the news of daughters becoming boxers, she expressed her desire of becoming a boxing player to his mother, while the mother had dreamt the same for her daughter. After convincing her family, Mani was finally able to realise her dream in 2015 while staying away from home for the training. In 2016, she won her first medal.
So far she has won five medals. In the Youth Boxing Tournament held in Mirzapur in 2019, she was selected as the best boxer in the state. In 2019-20, she won a bronze medal in the First Khelo India Championship held in Odisha in the All India International Boxing Contest on behalf of Gorakhpur University. Now she is representing Uttar Pradesh in the 57 kg weight category in the 5th Senior National Boxing Tournament in Hisar where she has promised to win a gold medal.
