Champion’s breakfast: how Saweety ‘ate her sorrows’ to rise stronger Premium

Saweety Boora did not just beat three doughty opponents in the ring at the boxing World Championships. She also overcame illness and injury during the course of her inspiring run.

After experiencing nine long years of ups and downs, including a demoralising phase during the pandemic when she did not touch the boxing gloves for months, Saweety Boora has emerged as a wiser person. Thirty-year-old Saweety’s unending tryst with hard work has enabled her to turn her 2014 Worlds silver medal (81kg) into gold this year and helped her realise that the problems she faced only made her stronger.

Everyone saw Saweety overcome three doughty opponents to become a World champion. But only a few know that she dealt with three physical challenges — a groin issue, a dodgy ankle and a stomach infection — prior to the World Championships.

“My willpower is very strong. I never let anyone [barring a few] feel that I had a groin issue, which surfaced 20 days prior to the World Championships. Whenever I felt any discomfort, I did some exercises with the help of the physio. Of course, everyone knew about my ankle and was confident that I would recover in time. The stomach infection was also troubling, but I always had a lot of stamina to work hard despite these issues,” said Saweety.

These were relatively smaller problems for someone who had weathered bigger odds, having almost quit the sport a few years back.

Saweety was devastated after not finding a place in the Indian squad for two major events. The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) decided not to send a boxer in women’s 75kg to the 2018 Asian Games and Saweety could not make the cut for the 2020 Olympic qualifier.

“I was heartbroken and went into depression. For about 10 months I did not touch the boxing gloves. I did not like speaking to anyone at home and stayed aloof. I would shout at others if anyone in my family tried speaking to me,” said Saweety, remembering the troubled times.