Punchy Mothers

Hundreds of Indian women are going into boxing, some because they love it, others in the hope of securing a job in the police force. We follow Meena Kumari, one of the female boxing pioneers, a police inspector and the mother of a little girl.

- Katie Breen

Meena Kumari, 32, is a boxer, a wife, a mother and a daughter. She is also a policewoman and… the owner of a buffalo. One of the first Indian women to become a boxer, the first one enjoying visibility on the international scene, she embodies the dream of aspiring female boxers. They call her “Didi”, the “big sister”. Meena’s life is a series of fights, on the ring and on the home front.

Her first major fight was confronting her father who believed boxing was not a respectable activity for women. “I struggled very much”, she said, “I had lots of sleepless nights. When I became 18, my father finally relented: I was allowed to start training, I was finally able to fulfil my dream and… to sleep well.” After 15 months of practice, Meena won her first medal. Only then did her father and family start supporting her.

Trouble arose again when the issue of marriage came up. Meena used to share a flat with two other female boxers and spent most of her time training in the National Camp. She bluntly refused marriage, which was then totally beyond her imagination. But in Mundi, her village in the state of Haryana, north of Delhi, her mother, aunts, uncles and cousins did not leave Meena a choice. Had she refused to marry she would have had to break off all ties with her family and the village. Luckily for her, this marriage saga found a happy ending. At the age of 28 and a well-known boxer, she was finally able to discover the rare gem: a suitable partner. Her husband Sunil Kumar, a health advisor for the government, turned out to be – and still is – a very supportive partner.