State champ Pawani sets sights on national boxing title

Pawani Sharma, 17, a state boxing champion in the 46-kg weight category last year, has qualified for a week-long National Youth Championship to be held in Noida from April 21. She will fight in the under-19 group of 45-48 kg weight category in the championship.

To make a mark at the national meet, she is putting in six hours of training daily in two shifts. To gain exposure, she observes fights of senior boxers and Olympic bouts on the social media. She interacts with seniors to improve understanding of the game. Being a vegetarian, she prefers having porridge, fruits, dry fruits, pulses and cereals.

The Class XII student, who strikes a balance between her course syllabi and the game, knows that her win will ensure her a berth in the Asian Boxing Youth Championship.

On Pawani’s choice of boxing as a career, her father Shivdeep Sharma, who runs a restaurant, said it was no longer an unsafe sport in the light weight category, as technical rules ensure the safety of participants.

After playing karate for four years from Class IV to VIII, Pawani switched to boxing and trains under the guidance of her coach Baljinder Singh. A black belt, she had won the top position in the sub-junior national held in Kurukshetra in 2019.

After picking up boxing gloves, she has been working towards making a career as a pugilist. She won the first position in the junior state boxing championship held at Malerkotla last year.

Pawani bagged two gold medals in the state school games in the under-17 boxing event and three top positions in the Punjab state games at Saheed Bhagat Singh Nagar last year. In addition, Pawani, a student of Khalsa College Senior Secondary School (Girls), participated in the under-17 school national boxing championship at New Delhi.

Her school principal Puneet Nagpal is all praise for her disciplined lifestyle and interest in studies. He said she was earning name and fame for the school with her performance in the ring.

Punjab