Suprita Das - Shadow Fighter: Sarita Devi and Her Extraordinary Journey

SHADOW
FIGHTER

Sarita Devi and Her
Extraordinary Journey

SUPRITA DAS

To all the men and women of our country who continue to pursue their dreams in Olympic sport. Thank you, for making us so very proud.

CONTENTS

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

Boxers, to me, are incredible sportspersons. Win or lose, they get beaten up anyway, and it takes some serious guts to accept this reality. Year after year, competition after competition, in good health and bad, in sizzling form or in a lean patch, landing punches and receiving some are the two things that dont change in boxing.

So at the 2014 Asian Games, when Sarita Devi lost a bout she had clearly won, it really was the worst possible scenario. At the medal ceremony the following day, she did something that is extremely rare for Indian sportspersons to do show courage, and stand up for what you feel is right. Actually, forget sportspersons, its a rare quality in Indians. As a society, were guilty of accepting a lot of things very easily. Whats worse, we dont question enough even when our rights are violated.

When Sarita protested by refusing to accept her medal at the podium, I sympathized with her. Her gesture was the result of the acute helplessness and frustration that had been brewing inside her for the previous twenty-four hours. The element of luck in sport be it boxing, which involves brutal force and aggression, or mine, which is based immensely on precision and perfection is crucial. There are times when things dont work in our favour. Tricky weather, faulty equipment, bad judging it could be anything. But thats sport, and in such circumstances there is no option for us athletes, but to swallow what is a very bitter pill.

At such times, we desperately look for support from the remotest of corners, to feel better and try and forget the injustice of it all. But as was evident from the dramatic unfolding of events in Saritas case, Indias sports officials showed how lousy and shoddy they were capable of being, not thinking even once to back their athlete at a time when she needed their support the most.

I have a deep sense of respect for Sarita for putting behind an extremely negative set of memories, and showing tremendous courage and hard work to return to a place where she truly belongs the boxing ring. Never giving up and doing ones best is the most important thing in life. And in sport, that alone is a victory. Shadow Fighter captures this thought perfectly. It is extremely well-written and a fitting tribute to an unsung hero of our country.

ABHINAV BINDRA

(The author is Indias first individual Olympic gold medallist.)

30 SEPTEMBER 2014. Incheon, South Korea. 2.30 p.m. local time. The womens 60 kg semi-final bout at the 2014 Asian Games was about to get underway. It was a weekday, but crowds turned up in large numbers. The Seonhak Gymnasium, the venue for the boxing events, with its capacity of a little over 2,000 people, was almost packed. In addition to the locals, there were Indians in the stands too. Incheon, South Koreas third most important city after its capital Seoul and Busan, has a modest Indian population, comprising mostly students pursuing doctorates and involved with research work at Inha University.

The spectators at Seonhak had just witnessed M.C. Mary Kom, Indias most famous female boxer, outpunch Vietnams Bang Le Thi by a unanimous 3-0 decision. Thi, all of twenty-two, was perhaps overwhelmed to be in the ring with her idol for the very first time. She was just ten when Mary had won her first World Championship title in 2002, and in the boxing clubs of Hanoi, Thi would often hear from her senior teammates about some Indian girl. She never quite understood why the girls were so obsessed with a boxer none of them had faced before. It was only seven years later, when Thi saw Mary in action at the Asian Indoor Championships in Hanoi, she realized what made Mary Kom the phenomenon she was.

But that September afternoon in Incheon, the young flyweight boxer with delicate features got a master class in the sport from her role model.

Five-time world champion Mary, who was fighting in her first major competition since her Olympic bronze in London in August 2012, had been rusty in the earlier round. But against Le Thi, her speed and guile were way better. She peppered her younger opponent with multiple combination punches, not giving her any chance at all to gain any sort of a foothold. In the fourth and final round, the Vietnamese did manage to connect a few punches, but having lost the last three rounds, there was very little she could do.

Even though Marys opponent in the following days final, Kazakhstans Zhaina Shekerbekova, wasnt going to be as easy, her confidence was now high. Mary would go for gold. No Indian female boxer had won an Asian Games gold before this.

Gold was also what Marys fellow Manipuri boxer, Laishram Sarita Devi, was going for. Inspite of having started their careers at the same time, the year 1999 Sarita slightly earlier than Mary the former had always been Indias second best. While Mary piled on the gold medals at the World Championships, Sarita, moving up and down weight categories, dominated largely at the Asian Championships.

Sarita too was a world champion, in 2006, but continued to remain the perpetual bridesmaid. In her fifteen-year-long career, this was just the second time she was representing India at a multi-disciplinary event. The first was just a month earlier, at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. She had won silver in her comeback competition, after the birth of her son. In the last lap of her career, Sarita was finally in the limelight. And that win egged her on to be better at the Asian Games.

That Tuesday wasnt any different from any other competition day in Saritas career. Things were more or less on track. Her weight was checked, after fighting in the 51 kg category for many years, she had settled into the 60 kg category now. She went through a checklist of things before the bout. The routine pre-bout medical test done. Breakfast eaten cereal with milk and fruit on a competition day, since that was easier to digest followed by a nap and a shower. Her gloves and a copy of the Bible packed in her bag.

Sarita was calm when she reached the venue, finishing her little revision before her bout, much like a student before a school exam. I thought about my opponent for the day. I knew that if everything went according to plan, this was going to be my day. She was not going to be a very tough opponent. I always fight the bout once in my head, all four rounds, before I enter the ring. It gets me into my match mode, I try and prepare for everything that could be thrown my way. And then I am ready for the real thing, she later said.

While her preparation for the real thing was spot on, Sarita only wished she was in the red corner for the day. I was in blue, it was not in my hands. I dont have any superstitions as such. But red gives me energy. It makes me feel more positive.

Boxing is a lonely sport. Once in the ring, youre on your own. There will be crowds chanting your name, egging you on. You will glimpse your name on posters among the spectators. You will see your countrys flag displayed in the arena, and being waved by your supporters. You will have a coach, and a cutman in your corner. But the few moments after youve put those gloves on and are waiting to take on your opponent, there is a sense of aloofness. As former heavyweight world champion George Foreman put it, This is the time thats lonely. Theres no one truly to talk this over with. Its lonely more than lonely.