Ban has helped me to think about my game: Sarita Devi
Sarita Devi (File Photo)
At the end of a grueling two and a half hour evening training session, the boxers of the women’s national camp in Delhi’s IG Stadium, prepare to head back to their hostel. Already tired, their weary shoulders slump further as they hoist backpacks heavy laden with sweat soaked clothes, shoes, gloves and kit. All except Sarita Devi that is. The Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medalist instead piles her gear into a rolling suitcase, which she then pulls behind her.
“I found that after training, my shoulders get very sore. And then if you carry your wet clothes, helmet and gloves in a backpack, it feels even worse. Your shoulders feel it and your back does so as well. So to avoid that, I started using the trolley bag,” she explains.
Its a deceptively simple solution to old problem. However, Sarita only figured this out a couple of months ago. She probably wouldn’t have, if it wasn’t for the fact that she had only just returned to competitive boxing after serving a one year ban for her protest over a contentious semifinal bout in the Asian Games. “Usually what happens is that when you have boxed for as long as I have, you simply go from one competition to another. It becomes a routine and it becomes difficult to have a fresh look at what changes you could make in your game,” she says.
“In a way, the ban helped me as well because I got time to think about my game,” she says. The changes go beyond simply finding an easier way to move her things. “In this one year that I have lost, I have tried to become a more intelligent boxer,” she says. “At my age you cant go dham dham dham all the time. There are younger boxers out there who can also attack all the time. So I have to be a lot more intelligent now,” says the 30-year-old who is into her 15th year of competitive boxing.
Sarita also is grateful for the enforced recovery time she got. During the Commonwealth Games, she suffered a ligament tear on her right fist. Unwilling to let the injury get the better of her, she continued to fight and aggravated the wound at the Asian Games. Following the ban, she underwent surgery followed by a lengthy recovery. “Last year because of the ban, I missed the world championships but I can say perhaps it was for the best. If I had continued to box with my injured left hand, I don’t think I would have been in a position to train for the Olympics,” she says.
Indeed on Monday evening, the lightweight boxer, has a few cuts around her left eye – the result of sparring with male pugilists – but is relatively unscathed otherwise. “The cuts are nothing bad. I really can’t remember the last time I trained while mostly injury free. I hope it stays that way until the Olympics,” she says.
The Olympics are particularly important for Sarita. “I feel that I have to restore the nation’s honour after what happened at the Asian Games. Everyone supported me so much after that, so I feel I have some sort of debt to pay,” she says.
And while she didn’t qualify for the London Olympics, losing in the quarterfinal stage of the qualifying tournament, she isn’t intending to fall short this time around. “I suppose it was important for me to get a break from boxing. Because that also gives other boxers a chance to come up. Its good for them to get a chance. But not this time. These Olympics are going to be for me,” Sarita says forcefully.
She’s being backed to the hilt by her husband Thoiba. “In the past I would miss my family and son very much, like any mother would. But now, Thoiba has arranged a flat for us in ITO (near the stadium) itself. He wants to make sure that I never feel any sort of loneliness that would hurt my game. So every weekend, I can simply go over to the flat and meet and play with my son,” she says.
Even three-year-old son Tomthil is doing his bit. “He calls me and tells me that he has eaten and asks me to eat as well. And when he knows I have to train, he will encourage me by saying ‘mummy hit more ‘. I feel so happy when he does that,” smiles Sarita.
The Olympics are still eight months away, Sarita has to first qualify as India’s representative to the two Olympic qualifiers – the 2016 World Championships in May and failing that at the subsequent Asia Oceania qualifiers in Qian’an, China.
Sarita has already boxed at the latter venue, having taken part at a training-cum-competition that concluded on December 9 in the Chinese city. She admits being nervous ahead of the competition. “I wanted to know whether I still had the ability to fight at the international level. I was happy after the tournament because I knew that I hadn’t lost any of that ability,” says Sarita, who won two of the three bouts she fought.
She admits the tournament was a mixed blessing. “In a way it helped China more than anything because, they got a chance to see how Asia’s best boxers performed against them. Whenever we were there, we were constantly videotaped from different angles,” she says. However, she isn’t upset having lost to China’s Yin Junhua — who won gold at 2014 Asiad. “She might have to face me at the Worlds or the Asian qualifiers so she would have some false confidence. On the other hand, I think I could box better,” Sarita says.
