A senior state boxing tournament in progress at Alewa village. A senior state boxing tournament in progress at Alewa village.

It does not have a railway station yet. With a population of around 20,000, Alewa is a nondescript village in Haryana that’s famous for its temples. A fortnight ago, it’s residents welcomed about 400 boxers who would be participating in a state selection tournament.

The organising panel’s head Pawan Kumar’s plea to the village panchayat to provide “sahyog” got an overwhelming response. In the days to come, these residents wouldn’t just share their homes with boxers, but would also provide them with milk, breakfast and hot water.

At the end of the tournament, unofficially voted the ‘most hospitable event ever’ by boxers, a strong Haryana team would get picked. So impressive was the talent on display that many are predicting a clean sweep by Haryana when the much-delayed boxing nationals begins from December 8 after a gap of four years.

The overwhelming response at Alewa plus the record 664 entries for the Haryana sub-junior boxing championship at Mithathal, district Bhiwani, few days ago shows that even though the sport might have gone off-the-boil nationally, resulting in an slump in results at international meets, boxing as a sport is still alive in the state. Lack of resources, official apathy and funds crunch have not been able to kill the sport in a state that loves a duel between men with gloves.

“Humne bus sahyog manga. We asked the panchayat if people were ready to help us in organising the tournament. You won’t believe that within one hour everyone was ready to provide help,” Pawan Kumar says.

Ever since the new Boxing Federation of India announced the dates for the Senior Nationals, in September, the Haryana State Boxing Association had been restless to conduct the state championships. And ever since Alewa was chosen to host the event, land 1 km from the village was chosen. A makeshift ring was set up up in an open field on the outskirts. This apart, two rooms were constructed in the field, which were used as organising panel office.

When boxers from different parts of the state arrived in Alewa, they were given a grand welcome and taken to the “allotted” houses. “It was a big thing for the people of the village. Boxing is something these people are passionate about,” Rakesh Thakran, General Secretary of HSBA, says.

Unusual venue

“The villagers connect with the boxers. Nothing mattered to them more than these boxers. They may not have all the modern facilities like immersion rods and electricity, but they still gave them hot water heated on a chullah. After their morning work, they came to the venue to see the bouts which began as early as nine and ended at 11 in the night,” Thakran adds.

Reaching this unusual boxing venue is tough. It’s late at night, the state transport suddenly comes to a halt at a deserted stretch with fields on either side. The conductors gets the bus to stop and points to a distant source of light. “That’s your boxing destination,” he says.

The last bout of the day is taking place and Parveen Mor from Sonipat, a multiple national medallist, is facing Jitender Singh of Bhiwani. More than 100 people are cheering them. They are all looking at the contest with keen interest, knowing that this will be the last bout of the day. They all shout “yeh” in unison if either boxer lands a punch. A stage is set for the dignitaries, including the SP of Jind and other local politicians.

After the bout, the announcer calls the winners for the medal ceremony. There is no podium. There is no video screen. Just a couple of photographers rush to the stage to capture the images.

“We have a culture of boxing and we know that. Just because there was no national federation doesn’t mean we stop the game. In the last four years, we continued to conduct our championships at all age-groups. Apart from them, we conduct at least six or seven open tournaments. These boxers have made it to this level through hard work. If we don’t conduct such tournaments, do you think so many boxers can come up?” Thakran asks.

Apart from 21 districts, there are three separate teams from different SAI centres in the state. One from Moti Lal Nehru Sports School, Rai, one from National Boxing Academy, Rohtak, and a consolidated team from the DAV schools. One such boxer to emerge is Rockey Kudu. The gold medallist in the 69kg category has not once thought of quitting the sport despite being aware of the pathetic state of the national federation.

Much before he shifted his allegiance to boxing five years ago, Rockey was training to become a wrestler in Rohtak. He joined the akhara at the age of nine. A year later, he lost his father Randhir Singh, a retired Army officer. He continued to wrestle for three more years before one day, he was a sparring partner for a boxer and ever since he has not looked back. From Rothak, he shifted his base to Bhiwani, hoping to hone his skills as a boxer.

“When I shifted to Bhiwani, everything was fine with Indian boxing. But only after a year or so, things just fell apart. But like so many other boxers, I did not think of quitting. I was hopeful,” he says. “As players, we all felt bad about the situation of boxing in the country in last three years. We wanted to participate and box but had no tournaments. Now we are going to the Senior Nationals, in a tournament I have never fought before because they did not happen,” he adds. Like Rockey, six other gold medallists will be participating in their first Seniors Nationals when they travel to Guwahati for the first men’s senior national tournament after the setting up of the new federation.

“I began boxing when Vijender bhai won the Olympic medal in 2008. Had I stopped when there was no federation, I would have done nothing. I have trained hard in the last three years and will continue to do so,” 19-year-old Neeraj Panghal, a gold medallist in the 52kg category from Vijender’s Kaluwas village says.

In the days to come, many among those at Alewa will be participating in tournaments at fancy stadiums and will be staying in plush hotels. They might even be tipped as the next Vijender. However, the week spent fighting in an open field in Alewa and its rustic charm and welcoming hosts will be hard to forget.

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