Crowned as the National women champion in the light weight category, Preeti Beniwal is inspired by Mary Kom and is now looking forward to bigger challenges ahead

Bengaluru: It took five World Championship titles and an Olympic bronze medal for MC Mary Kom to finally get the recognition that she is enjoying today. Her success story as a female boxer has inspired thousands of aspiring Indian women boxers and Haryana girl Preeti Beniwal is one of them.

Crowned as the National Women Champion in the light weight category at the recently concluded 13th Senior Women’s National Boxing Championship in Guwahati, Preeti is now looking forward to bigger challenges.

“Mary Kom has inspired lot of aspiring boxers like us. Like her I too want to play at the Olympics and win a medal for India. As of now I am totally focussed on Olympics 2016,” said Preeti.

For this 24-year-old from Haryana, boxing has never been a difficult choice as this contact sport runs in her blood. Her father Sube Singh Beniwal is a boxing coach and her sister (Poonam Beniwal) is also a coach at NIS Patiala. But the family got a valuable addition when Poonam married 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar. “Now I not just have a family but an entire team behind me to help me pursue my goals,” said Preeti, who is also a Sub-Inspector with Haryana Police.

Having someone like Akhil Kumar in the family is definitely a boon for Preeti and ofcourse she must have been the envy of many aspiring boxers. But for Preeti, her journey was not an easy one especially after she picked up a knee injury post Asian Games 2010.

“I reached the quarterfinals of the Asian Games but during my quarterfinal bout I got injured for which I couldn’t proceed further at the Games. After that I had to undergo surgery and my injury was taking time to heal. And when I started recovering I wanted to go back to boxing but my brother-in-law (Akhil Kumar) did not encourage me initially. He had his reservations as being a top class boxer, who has faced so many injuries himself, he knew about the difficulties. But I was adamant,” Preeti adds.

“Preeti is a brave girl but after she got injured in 2010, I was against the idea of her going back to boxing as boxing is a sport full of injuries and being a girl it will be very difficult for her if she gets injured again. So i wanted her to quit boxing,” says Akhil Kumar.

The Arjuna awardee further adds, “But Preeti was adamant and today I am really glad that she chose to continue. I am baffled by her focus. It is her focus and determination that compelled me to train her and improve her game. Her game is much better than what it was earlier. She had a flat foot and so I helped her with her foot movement. I also trained her on mind games as well.”

And like an obedient student Preeti never fails to speak to her brother-in-law before her bouts. “I may forget everything but I never forget to take advice from my brother-in-laws before my bouts. Whatever he says remains imprinted in my mind and his advice always works,” says Preeti.

Preeti was earlier the national champion twice-2007 and 2008 -- but she is yet to win an international title. According to Akhil Kumar, “I can foresee that she will do well at the Asian Games in 2014 and we can keep our fingers crossed for Olympics 2016.”

Hopefully Preeti succeeds in her pursuit and carry forward the trend started by Mary Kom.