"Mera ghar to Nitu chalata hai," says the proud father of Boxer Nitu Ghanghas who used to skip office to support her daughter in boxing

Nitu Ghanghas, a 21-year-old Boxer from village Dahana in Haryana just ensured a medal in Commonwealth Games 2022 in the 48 kg category. As soon as she won the match her father went on to a sweet shop to buy sweets for the neighbours. Although he is very happy with Nitu ensuring a medal, he wants his daughter to go for gold. Nitu defeated Northern Ireland's Nicole Clyde by a technical decision in the quarter-finals.

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Jai Bhagwan, Nitu's father works in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh as a bill messenger. However, he hasn't received his salary for the past few years as an inquiry is going on about his regular absence. He used to skip office to support Nitu's boxing career as the only thing he wanted to see is that her daughter wins international medals in boxing for India.

"Hamara ghar toh Nitu hi chalati hai, main to bus uske India ke liye medal jeetne ke dream ko support karta hun. (Our home is run by Nitu. I only support her dream of winning medals for India)," Jai Bhagwan said in an interview with Indian Express.

"To see her win in any competition is like doing my job and that's why I took so many leaves from my work to be with her and support her. Even though I could not be in Birmingham to see her, our prayers are with her and we know she will return with the gold medal," he added.

Nitu Ghanghas used to train at the Bhiwani Boxing Club under coach Jagdish Singh, which is 20kms away from her village. While her daughter was having intense training under Jagdish sir, Jai had to decide whether he wants to travel two and a half hours to support her daughter or go to the office for work.

He had made up his mind on the first day itself. "When I first went to the academy, I saw more than 100 boxers training there. I knew at that time that I had to be with my daughter to support her training all the time if I wanted to see her win a medal for the country," Jai told in that interview.

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Just like every athlete, Nitu's journey was not smooth. So was not for her father. In the early stages of her career, Nitu was not that successful. So, Jay had to decide whether he would continue skipping his office without pay or keep supporting his daughter's dream. In 2015, their journey to another halt as Nitu suffered and pelvic injury that cost her a few months out of the game. During that time, Jai had to sell his family car and borrow some money from relatives to keep the dream alive.

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It's been 10 years since their journey together started in the search for medals for India. Since then, Nitu Ghanghas has won a bronze in the 2016 youth nationals followed by a gold in World Youth Championship in 2017. That year she also won the Asian Youth title as well.

Now, with already a Bronze in hand, Nitu, her father and the whole of India would love to have the Gold in the 48kg Women's Boxing.

<Note: This article has been taken and edited from an original copy of Indian Express>