How Arundhati Choudhary Is Paving The Way For World Boxing In Rajasthan With Her Wins

Arundhati Choudhary recently made history as the first woman and first-ever person from Rajasthan to claim a world championship title in boxing. She won gold in the 69 kg final last week at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Poland, defeating national champion Barbara Marcinkowska.

This is not Choudhary's first international title. She has been in the sport since a young age and won accolades consistently since 2017. What makes this gold a noteworthy win is that this is not just a first for anyone in Rajasthan, but potentially also opens up the road ahead for Choudhary to eye bigger stages like the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.

But as it so happens with many stories of inspiration, Choudhary's journey up until here saw its own fair share of bumps.

From Kota To The World Stage: Looking At Arundhati Choudhary's Life

Hailing from Kota, Rajasthan, the cradle of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) aspirants, Choudhary's fate too seems to have been sealed. "You must get admitted to IIT. That's it," were her father's words, as per what the young champion tells the Olympic Channel.

She was however inclined towards basketball in particular, and sports in general. With support from her mother Sunita, she finetuned her interests and zeroed in on boxing as a career pursuit.

"I used to be a tomboy in school and if anybody would do anything untoward I would beat him up. I did not put up with any nonsense": Arundhati Choudhary

Alongside her passions, there was a drive for equality that kept her chasing her dreams.

"Discrimination or prejudice of any kind would make me angry. I would not fear even fighting senior boys though I was not a boxer then. In one such incident at school, I hit a senior boy with my bottle as he was not letting the girls fill water from the tap on the pretext that men are superior and they will decide who would get a chance," she tells Times of India. 

She began training as early as 4:00 am and would make time after school for her boxing practice.

In 2017, she clinched the top position at the Junior National Boxing Championship. Starting that year, she also consecutively won gold at the Khelo India Games for three years in the 69 kg category. Her recognitions also span international titles in Ukraine, Serbia and Spain. In 2018, she was named the Best Asian Junior Women Boxer, and in what was one of the most prominent achievements of her sporting career till now, won bronze at the ASBC Youth Asian Men & Women Championship in Mongolia in 2019.

Image Credit: TOI