Since they first met in 2015 and later became engaged, Saweety Boora and Deepak Hooda have been each other’s rock. They were married in July of this year.
Deepak Hooda began to browse the photo album on his mobile phone, and his smile became wider. He came to a stop as soon as he discovered the recordings of his wife, women’s 81kg fighter Saweety Boora, playing kabaddi.
“Yeh dekho kick maaregi… Ab dekho isko uthake phenkegi As he switched between various clips of Boora playing at a nearby competition in Rohtak”, he said, “ab bonus maaregi.”
Boora was a natural at kabaddi, in Hooda’s opinion. In addition to having the upper body strength to be a strong defender, she had the speed and flair to go in for raids. Her calling, however, was never kabaddi.
Boora defeated Gulsaya Yerzhan 5:0 in the final of the Asian Elite Boxing Championships that same night, on November 11, in Jordan, to take home the gold medal for the region’s competition.
Saweety Boora’s statement
When Boora called Scroll. in from Jordan, she said, “This feels extremely good.” One of my nightmares involved this. Gold from the World Championship came in second, followed by an Olympic gold. Though I placed second in the world, I now desire gold.
The 29-year-old had, however, recently given up on pursuing those aspirations. She was not chosen to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.
“The dream was destroyed, and I wondered what the point of everything was. I was in a terrible mood. The biggest problem is depression. I made the decision to stop boxing. So Deepak said, ‘Okay, if you can’t make it in boxing, for now, come to kabaddi, you have everything for it,'” she added.
Hooda and Boora took it upon themselves to stay in shape when the sporting world came to a standstill due to the pandemic.
“Since the building where I reside has a sizable parking lot, in the morning we would jog for 10 to 12 kilometers. Then we’d sprint up the stairs to my apartment on the 14th floor,” said Hooda. “A stadium is about a kilometer distant from my home. Around 7 o’clock at night, we would travel there to train for four hours.”
More stories related to boxing here.