Ahead of Paris, Parveen counting on ringcraft
MUMBAI: “Arrey, mat poochiye (don’t ask)!” Parveen Hooda shoots back at the mention of home.
Home, in Rohtak’s Rurki village, is where the boxer hasn’t been in months. Plans to make a dash last weekend stood cancelled because training took precedence. For her birthday last month, her parents offered to go where she is — the national camp in Patiala — but a three-session day played party pooper there too.
“I do miss my family, my home. But then I think: abhi bas 2-3 mahine hai, phir aaram se ghar pe rahungi (there are just 2-3 months to go, then I can relax at home),” she said.
That feeling aside, Hooda, one of the four Indian boxers to have qualified for the Paris Olympics so far, is relishing this build-up phase. At 24, the 57kg boxer is already a medal winner at the World Championships (2022, bronze), Asian Championships (2022, gold) and the Asian Games (2023, bronze). Yet it was the Olympics that had been a “dream for so many years”.
“There is a sense of pressure, but also of excitement,” she said. “I’m focussing on every little detail in training. I’m confident I’ll do well there.”
That confidence stems from Hooda’s steady rise in international boxing, her growth trajectory meeting morale-boosting checkpoints at those big events over the last couple of years. From each of those competitions, including the Asian Games where she lost in the semi-final but secured the Paris quota, she returned richer by more than merely medals.
“The biggest thing I learnt was to not have any self-doubts. I beat some top boxers in these events, and that gave me a lot of motivation and faith. The experience of competing at that top level was also helpful in how to fight with these boxers,” Hooda said.
Preparing for Paris, she is using that experience to build her technical side of boxing. The defeat in Hangzhou, to Chinese Taipei’s multiple-time Worlds medallist Lin Yu-ting, compelled her to look beyond her strength of counterattacks. She has now improved in going for attacks — rather than wait for counters — early, as well as fighting from all ranges.
“Earlier, I would rely on my counter game. I realised that you can’t have just one style of play. I’ve developed my attacking and close-range game since the Asian Games. Now I can fight from all distances — middle, close, long.”
Making alterations isn’t new to Hooda. Graduating from youth to seniors, she had made the 63kg division her own, becoming the 2021 national champion and a Worlds and Asian medallist the following year. But with 63kg not in the Olympics, she had to take the difficult call of either going up a weight class or dropping down.
With the Paris Games in mind, 57kg “was my best option”. It meant ramping up her training load and sticking to a strict protein-rich, carb-checking and junk-shedding diet to reduce weight. Bigger sacrifices had to be made.
“I love chai, and I had to give it up completely for two months,” she said, smiling. “It was a huge challenge initially to suddenly shed six kilos. But my aim and dream was the Olympics, toh karna pada (so, I had to do it).”
So far, only women boxers have qualified from India for the Olympics. World champion Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) are the others. No male boxer from the country has qualified.
From 2019 when she stamped her presence in Indian boxing by defeating Sarita Devi in a domestic trial to 2024 when she stands on the cusp of living that Olympics dream, Hooda is a different boxer. Not as much in terms of skills as in the mind.
“My game was good even then, but I lacked confidence. Now, after winning a few medals in international competitions, my belief has risen. I’m no longer nervous before bouts.”
Blocking external distractions comes naturally to the woman from Rurki.
She’s cut down heavily on phone time, doesn’t like to socialise anyway, and finds “shanti (peace)” inside the ring. Working on her mental strength, through sessions with a psychologist, though remains the youngster’s focal point gearing up for her first Games experience.
“Even if I feel more pressure there, I want to be in a position mentally to handle it. Because no matter how strong we have trained, if we are down even slightly in the mind there, sab palat sakta hai (everything can flip).”