One girl's passion drives others to take up boxing in her village

GORAKHPUR (FATEHABAD): Haryana may be known for gender bias but this girl from a Gorakhpur village of Fatehabad district has joined a gym meant for boys only to participate in boxing competitions in the state.
Despite the fact that no other girl from the village goes to the gym here, Manjeet, 16, attends the gym at 5 am daily. While practising with a punching bag at her fields, Manjeet also succeeded to win a silver medal during first sub-junior women Haryana State Boxing Championship held at Yamunanagar in 2015.
"What is fear," she asks nonchalantly."It's my village. I don't have any problem if there are only boys in the gym," she said while attending a practice session in the gym.
Daughter of a farmer, Manjeet initially used to play kabaddi like other village girls. But one day, Fatehabad's district sports officer (DSO) Sube Singh Beniwal, during his visit to the village, suggested her to explore other possibilities also.
She then started going to Fatehabad to get training in boxing. "For three months, she went to Fatehabad on a motorcycle by covering a distance of 35km daily. Initially, we were not sure about the outcome but when she won silver medal in state boxing competition, we decided to help her," said Manjeet's father Mahender Singh, who owns four acres of land.
At five feet and eight and a half inches, Manjeet was also a member of Haryana women kabaddi team that won gold medal in national-level circle kabaddi tournament held at Chandigarh in 2014. She now looks at making a future in boxing.
"I have watched the movie "Mary Kom" twice. I also want to become the Mary Kom of Haryana," said Manjeet, student of Class XII, while sharing her aspirations. Fatehabad DSO has also started her giving a financial help of Rs 1,000 or Rs 1,500 monthly from his pocket.
Courage and achievements of Manjeet have inspired other girls of the village as well. "The government should set up a sports academy at the village as its not possible for each of the village girl to visit Fatehabad for high level training," said Jaivir Beniwal, who gives training to about 50 odd girls free of cost in Gorakhpur.