Ankit Sharma and Payal Sharma, the sibling duo is killing at every major junior boxing tournament these days. Hailing from Dehradun, Uttarakhand, they’ve played at National level Boxing matches. Payal, an 11th class 16 year old student has won gold medal at state level in sub junior category at Pauri, Garhwal, 2013, Gold in sub junior category at Uttarkashi, 2014, Bronze at National level in Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan, 2014, Gold at National level in Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan, sub junior category, 2015, National Gold at National level in Khelo India, January, 2017. Ankit, 13 years of age, 8th class student is no less than his sister. He has won Silver at Pauri, Garhwal, 2013, Silver in Uttarkashi, 2014, gold in 2016 and 2-times Gold winner at national level sub junior category, Rural Game Federation of India among many others.
1. What do you like to do when you’re not boxing?
I like to play with my friends. After Boxing, my heart goes out for cricket. Payal likes to read in her free time. She’s very much into literature.
2. Share something about your family.
We have a large family but everyone is scattered at different places. Here we live with our parents. My father is also a boxer and a strict coach.
3. Who motivates you to keep going on?
My mother motivates me to continuously make myself better. The happiness in her eyes after hearing the news of our win is incomparable to any other motivation. Payal is motivated by our father. She always keeps making efforts to make Dad feel proud of her, be it in studies or boxing.
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4. How much of the part has been played by boxing lineage in family to your achievements?
A major role has been played by my family in our journey. If our family had not been so supportive and strict for our training, we probably would not have reached so high at this age.
5. Who is your mentor?
Our father. He’s our mentor, our coach, our inspiration and everything related to boxing. He not only introduced us to the sport but helped us to understand it and eventually, love it.
6. How much time do you practice daily?
We practice 4-5 hours on a daily basis.
7. Is it difficult to manage education and boxing together?
It is very difficult. We’ve to practice 2 hours in the morning, then attend school and practice for 3 hours in the evening. Whatever comes, we can’t escape this schedule. After such tiring schedule, it’s difficult to concentrate on studies. Also, many a times, we’ve to skip school to play in various tournaments. So studies take a back seat when it comes to boxing.
8. Is there a competitiveness between the brother – sister duo?
No. We both never face competitive issues. We both enjoy our game and never compare our self.
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10. What are you looking forward to now?
I look forward to winning gold medal for India at Olympics 2020.
11.What message would you like to give to the youth?
No pain, no gain. Never shy away from hard work. Without working hard, no one has ever reached anywhere.