In honour of teen boxer Nikita Chand, all houses in the remote village of Badalu in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district will display the name of the youngest daughter in the family. The 15 year old girl brought recognition to the small village by winning a gold medal in the Asian Junior Boxing Championship (60kg) that took place in Dubai last month. This initiative has been taken to encourage more girls to take up sports and to honour Chand.
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Nikita Chand victory to be honoured
The Badalu gram panchayat has finalised that over 150 families in the village will mention the names of the youngest girl in their families on the front side of their house. This will inspire them to work hard like Nikita and create an identity for themselves and the village. The village head Diwakar Joshi said, "The decision was taken by the gram panchayat after Nikita Chand, a young girl from our village, won a gold medal in an international boxing competition over a week ago." Joshi further said that the villagers were elated with Chand's achievement. The initiative is taken to motivate families and inspire their girls. In his opinion, it will strengthen the campaign of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save and educate girl child).
Ever since Chand returned home this week, there has been an air of celebration. Her uncle, Bhagwan Chand said that she had made them proud and they wanted all their girls to do the same.
Who is Nikita Chand?
Nikita Chand is a student of Class X at a local school in her village. When she was 10 years old, a retired army personnel, Brijendra Malla, who had started his own boxing academy, spotted her. He had retired in 2004 and got to train Chand in 2016. That year, she participated at the district level. In 2018, she contested in the sub-junior state-level championship, Haridwar. Next year, she took part she took part in the state sub-junior championship at Betalghat, Nainital, where she won a gold medal.
She played a national-level school game in Delhi and went to Khelo India in Guwahati, Assam in 2020. Malla added that last year, she took part in the state trials at Almora as well as the national trials and won gold in both. "It was after the national trials that she was selected for the Dubai event," he said.
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For Chand, this is just the beginning of what she wants to do. She aims at playing the senior and youth championships. In the long run, she desires to get to the Olympics and win gold for the country.
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