Haunted by self doubts Govind Kumar Sahani bags silver
February 26, 2023
For the 25-year-old, that certainty about his career choice has never been iron-clad.
To break away from the constant questions from his mother, he moved to the sports hostel in Meerut in 2011, where at least his basics were being taken care of and he didnt have to go to his mother asking for money. While that convinced his mother for a few years that her son wasnt wasting his life away in a pointless sport, soon bigger doubts crept in on their own.
Once I got into the hostel, the family suddenly started to believe in my dreams. But just a year later, the Indian boxing federation was banned by AIBA and suddenly, everything spun out of control again, he says.
It was one of the lowest phases of his life as a boxer. With boxing events drying up due to Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF)s suspension and no job to fall back on, Sahani almost quit the sport around 2015.
At the hostel, my basic needs were being taken care of. But even in the small events I was competing in, I started to suspect foul play where I would dominate the opponent and still lose. I started to feel like I had hit some sort of ceiling that I couldnt even see. There were boxers who I could have beaten with one hand tied behind my back who were at national camps. And I was still in the sports hostel. Id not gone there just to eat free meals. At some point, I started to think to myself that my mother was right all along. This was a pointless pursuit. I went home and told her I was quitting and would do anything that would at least help me earn an income, he says.
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But instead of quitting he did something else: he switched allegiance to Nagaland and competed in the National Boxing tournament in 2018, where he won bronze. A year later, he got his first chance to represent India at the GeeBee Boxing Tournament in Finland, where he returned with a silver. Soon enough, he had a job with the Assam Rifles as well.
Friday, March 3, 2023 at 4:57 am