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She may not have had a movie made on her, but Sarita Devi is punching harder than ever, and has her sights set on Rio
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Even though she didn’t qualify for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, the cameras have constantly been on M.C. Mary Kom these days. The Olympic bronze medallist has been on non-stop promotional tours of Mary Kom the movie, with actor Priyanka Chopra.
There is not half as much media buzz around Laishram Sarita Devi, but for her, even this little attention is a first. It should not have been so. Sarita has been around for exactly as long as Kom, which is more than a decade at the top of women’s boxing. Kom struggled for years, and even a record five world championship titles were not enough to bring her out of obscurity, till women’s boxing became a part of the Olympics in 2012. That changed everything. Kom, in the final stretch of her career, won the bronze at the London Games, and suddenly, she was a household name.
Sarita is going through something similar—back from the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she won silver, the 29-year old is enjoying the attention.
Manicured fingernails, ironed hair and dangly earrings: The Sarita off the ring is very different from the one in it. “I’ve won at the world championships too, and so many times at the Asian championships as well. But this is different. This is my moment, I think," says Sarita in her almost singsong voice, as she prepares for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, starting 19 September.
The similarities between the stories of the two women are striking. Sarita’s father was a farmer and a sports enthusiast who got her to take taekwondo and kung fu classes early. She was 13 when he died, and that’s when Sarita first dabbled with the idea of pursuing sports as a career, as a tribute to him. Ibomcha Singh, Manipur’s Dronacharya award-winning boxing coach, took young Sarita to the Sports Authority of India camp in Imphal, just to make her watch boxing.
Sarita didn’t like what she saw.
“There was so much sweat dripping from the headgear. Some of them even had blood on their faces," she recalls. But she had bigger worries. “Some of the boxers told me that my face and mouth would become really big once I start wearing the gum shields. I will look so horrible." With reluctance, she put on some gloves in the weeks that followed.
The career of the two Manipuri girls took different routes from then on. Kom won world championship after world championship, and her achievements went largely unnoticed in her own country. Sarita, meanwhile, switched weight categories a few times and dominated her weight class at the Asian Women’s Boxing Championships, but continued to remain the perpetual bridesmaid.
Sarita’s backbone through the journey has been her footballer husband Thoiba Singh, who has represented Manipur at the Santosh Trophy. The two met in 2001 at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi stadium, when he wrote a letter congratulating her on her first national title. “You know that magazine Sportstar? They had my photo in it. He saw it and wrote a letter to me. We didn’t have mobile phones back in those days," Sarita laughs. “After that we were not in touch till 2006. But we became friends again, and got married in 2008."
They have a son, a year and a half old. Sarita’s heart broke when she had to leave her toddler, Tomthal, behind and pack her bags for Glasgow. “But if I don’t sacrifice, I can’t achieve anything. Nobody can," she says. On her return, little Tomthal failed to recognize his mother. “I cried for an entire day because he wouldn’t want to be in my arms. In three-four days it was fine. But I know this is going to happen again very soon."
The crowds in Glasgow loved her no-nonsense approach in the ring. Nigeria’s Kehinde Obareh ended up with a dislocated shoulder as Sarita delivered the competition’s first TKO (technical knock-out). “I hope she gets okay. But this is a big deal for me, you know? My first bout at the Commonwealth Games," she said in Glasgow.
Sarita, like Kom, is getting more recognition and bigger stages to showcase her boxing only towards the end of her career, but the determination is as strong as ever. “I had put on a lot of weight. After the birth of my baby, I weighed 85kg, and then had just a few months to get back in shape, and bring my weight down to 60kg," says Sarita.
“After having my baby, my respect for Mary has gone up even more. I am thankful to her for my comeback to the ring. Your entire body goes through so much change after delivery, and motherhood changes you as a person as well. Only I can experience the struggle she went through. I know they are making a movie on her, but none of them know what that actual experience is like," says Sarita. Even as she gets ready for the Asian Games, her mind is set on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2012, she missed making the cut by just two qualification points.
Though age isn’t on her side, Sarita isn’t looking back. Just like she hasn’t all these years. Never mind if her story doesn’t make it to the movies.
Suprita Das is a senior sports correspondent for NDTV.
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