If there was ever example of what home support can do to a sportsperson’s chances of achieving greatness, one need not look any further than Ankushita Boro, who now stands on the cusp of winning a gold in the women’s boxing World Championships at Guwahati.
The welterweight boxer’s thrilling displays have captured the imagination of her home state. After all, how many Indians get to compete on home soil for a world event? And the local crowd has lapped up her performances, turning up in large numbers and cheering her every move.
The pressure of playing at home and living up to lofty expectations can be detrimental for some but Ankushita is hardly ruffled by the new-found fame and attention, “I am not nervous before my bouts. I only think about my opponent and try implement the input my coach provides,” Boro told The Field.
It is another matter that Boro would have never even made it to the tournament after being confined to a room just a fortnight ago, “I contracted chicken pox just before the start of the tournament and it seemed as though I would not make the cut. My mother was by my side in Delhi to help me recover on time.”
Family support has played a key role in the role of the teenager’s growth. There was little hesitation from her household when a 12-year-old Boro decided that she was destined to don gloves, wear a mouthguard and pummel opponents inside a ring. “She was only in class seven when she told us that she had decided on taking up boxing seriously. We were taken aback but it was her uncle, a sportsman himself, who convinced us that Ankushita had a future in the sport,” Boro’s mother Ranjita, who works for an NGO, said.
“We took her the trails in the inter-state for the Sports Authority of India. She got selected there and there has been no looking back since,” she added.
The leap of faith
As destiny took a drastic turn in young Boro’s life, she had to leave her village in Meghaijarni, 200 kilometers from Guwahati to try her luck at the sport. The light welterweight pugilist didn’t take long to impress and was a regular at the podium during state championships. A year after joining the SAI academy, whatever little doubts her parents had about her abilities in the ring changed.
Boro was in good hands, “There was a teacher called Pournamika. I will always remember the day she sat me down and told me that Ankushita has a bright future. Within a year’s time, her game changed completely,” Ranjita said.
A bronze medal at the national championships earlier this year earned her the chance to travel to Istanbul, one of India’s exposure trips leading up to the big event. A silver medal at Istanbul more or less sealed her berth in India’s 10-member team.
‘Determined’
When asked what stood out about Boro during her childhood days, Ranjita singled out her daughter’s determination. The former’s opponents suffered as at result as Turkey’s Calga Aluc and Italy’s Rebecca Nicoli were dispatched in successive games. There was a bit of a history surrounding both those contests – they had beaten Boro in the recent past, and revenge was very much a central theme.
Aluc defeated Boro in the final of the Ahmet Comert youth tournament two months ago, “She had beaten me in Istanbul so it was natural that I wanted to return the favour at home,” the class XII student said. Nicoli would also meet the same fate in the quarter-finals.
Gifted with good height and athleticism, Boro has sparkled in both attack and defence. A busy customer on court, it is very difficult to bog her down. In short burts, she catches her opponents off-guard with a flurry of punches while being equally adept with her guard, sidestep and can weave out of trouble at lightening speed.
Now, the Assamese is learning how how to grapple with being recognised on the streets and dealing with deafening noise inside the Nabin Chandra Bordoloi stadium during her bouts. However, she is unsure about Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires next year despite having set her sights on it. For the moment at least, Boro is learning how to make the most of the home advantage.