She is short, strongly built and has the guts to take on the four-time World champion M.C. Mary Kom and beat her. Pinky Jangra, a 19-year-old collegian from Hisar, Haryana, is the latest sensation in Indian women’s boxing.
On Monday, Pinky, backed by a vociferous crowd at the JRD Tata Sports Complex here, took on Mary on equal footing in a quarterfinal bout of the 46 kg class and managed to come through unscathed.
Despite the verdict being 9-9 tie she got the nod of four out of the five judges to move into the semifinals. This win has opened up a great career for this young lady. “I want to be the best in India, she proclaimed after the success. Mary is the best in the world and has so many awards to her credit. I wanted to beat her since my loss in the semifinals of the last National in Agra.
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“Now it is 1-1 in head to head clash between us, she said in the moment of euphoria. The victory gave me new impetus to work hard and bring laurels to the country. I wish to thank my coach Anup Kumar in helping me come this far”.
Pinky is one of the many talented young ladies who has come to the fore thanks to the State’s effort to develop the sport. The second year B.A. student of Government College was hardly known outside her state at least till Monday.
As a junior international, she has a gold medal to her credit. Her exposure to the senior rank is rather limited to just two tours. Her maiden trip was to Turkey last year and this year she went to China for training-cum-competition.
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Pinky came a cropper against Mary 3-5 at the last National. “I was too defensive then because I did not want to lose badly”, she recalled. “This time I changed my tactics to surprise Mary. I concentrated on throwing a counter punch, then step back and come in quickly for another punch. That I led in three rounds gave me a lot of confidence to win the bout”.
Pinky made her senior debut in 2007 at Udaipur National and was eliminated early.
Pinky will come up against Hemani Mehta of Uttrakhand in the semifinals. But on current form, the gutsy Haryanvi looks the best bet to win her maiden crown.