'When they hung the gold medal on me, all I could think was how far I have come'

They call her the "boxer girl" here, and post her World Championships gold two weeks back, simply "Nitu champion." In Bhiwani's Dhanana village, Nitu Ghanhghas first became a household name the day she bashed up a boy in the neighbourhood many moons ago. The 48kg world title, however, gave the village a far more credible reason to celebrate. And so, they did. The cobbled street leading to her unremarkable dwelling was lit up with firecrackers as Nitu punched her way to a maiden senior Worlds title.

"It was Holi and Diwali at once; nothing like we had ever experienced before," remarked her cousin.

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A day later, Nitu's father Jai Bhagwan, anticipating a rush of visitors, unhooked the punching bag that hung smack in the centre of their frugal living room and placed it next to one of the many unplastered shelves carrying Nitu's trophies. A small speed bag though still hangs like a little balloon. The room itself has no conventional decorative items — dumbbells, barbells and boxing gloves fill up the corners. The family still scurries for chairs when guests show up.

"This is all we have ever had," said Jai Bhagwan. "But there are no regrets. Giving up my career as the lone breadwinner was a big gamble, but luckily, Nitu has proved me right."

The bill messenger in the Haryana Assembly continues to be on leave without pay, his family now entirely dependent on Nitu's prize money. Thanks to Nitu, her younger sister is able to pursue her MBBS in Shimla and her brother is chasing his dream of becoming a shooter.

"She is the backbone of our family now, and not just financially. She is an inspiration to her siblings," Jai Bhagwan added.

Nitu, though, is not given to such emotive musings. There are days when she does look back, but mostly, she prefers to look ahead. A day before the biggest bout of her career -- the World Championship final -- she had been in a similar mode.

"It's only nine minutes," Nitu kept telling herself as she snuggled on her bed, one night away from fighting for the world crown. A career that began almost by an accident 11 years back with a fortuitous visit to the famed Bhiwani Boxing Club now lay waiting for its finest hour — or as Nitu would remind herself, nine minutes.

The World Championships final against Mongolia's Lutsaikhan Altansetseg ended in a commanding unanimous win for Nitu, but the 24 hours leading up to that bout were anything but easy. The tricky semi-final against Kazakhstan's Alua Balkibekova, whom she defeated 5-2 and who had punched her out of the World Championships last year, had taken a toll on her mind and body.

"That bout (semi-final) had taken a lot out of me. I lost to Balkibekova last year, so I watched a lot of her videos and came prepared. But she was still tough to get past," recalled Nitu.

"For the final, I just wanted to go all guns blazing. I had watched videos of some of Altansetseg's bouts and figured out my game plan. I kept repeating it in my head. I played that bout so many times in mind, the way I would walk into the ring, the way I would react, box, win, celebrate...I could even hear the national anthem. The next day, the bout panned out exactly how I had planned. It was surreal," she said.

Still, when the moment did come, it was nothing like Nitu had visualised or rehearsed. After initial jubilation, she broke into tears — a culmination of years of sweat and toil crystalised to a singular moment of triumph.

"They say it takes a village to build a champion, and not without reason. My parents have sacrificed so much for me. There was a time when we didn't have ₹100 to board a bus for a competition and we had to borrow money from the neighbours. When they hung the gold medal on me, all I could think was how far I have come."

"I had worked really hard for that moment. Over the past year, I have started lifting more weights, gaining strength and muscle. I have changed as a boxer too; while earlier I was more of a counterpuncher, now I try to attack early. I give myself 15 seconds to analyse my opponent. After that, there's no mercy."

Ruthless as she may sound, outside the ring, Nitu appears a far cry from her aggressive boxing persona. "You may have read of people who took up boxing because of some underlying angst and stuff. Nothing of that sort happened to me. I was drawn to boxing because that's the only sport we play here. The colourful headgear and gloves attracted me at first, but soon that was overcome by the thrill of punching," she said.

It wasn't an easy rise to the top though. Back in her junior days, she would be tormented by Jyoti Gulia who beat her at the Haryana State Championships in 2013 and 2014, besides overpowering her in numerous practice bouts.

The turning point arrived in 2015 when Nitu finally had her revenge at the SAI Championships in Rohtak. "I remember when the draws were out, a friend of mine told her that I am again in the same group as Jyoti. I told her it will be a different result this time."

“I don’t think I ever lost to Jyoti thereafter. That bout turned my career around. There are moments in your career when things just fall into place. My international career took shape after that bout. Now that I am the world champion, I feel I can go ahead and win an Olympic medal."

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