New Delhi, February 17: India’s emerging Pro boxer Chandni Mehra is all set to take on local girl Shin Bo Mi Re in the Korean city of Gangwon-do on Saturday 19th February 2022.
This will be the 21-year-old boxer’s 11th professional bout since making her Pro Boxing debut in 2018. She has an impressive record of 8 wins and two losses in the 10 fights that she has participated in.
Chandni is going as the underdog, but she has everything in her arsenal that could shock her Korean opponent. So far, Chandni has fought 6-round bouts, but the one on Saturday will mark her debut in the 10-round format. Chandni has been assured of a purse of $3500 for this fight.
Chandni started boxing after getting inspired from Bollywood movie Mary Kom, based on the life of the legendary Indian boxer and Olympic medallist from Manipur.
“Mary Kom is her idol. As a kid, she was good at a lot of sports. She did karate too, but it not being an Olympic sport, we decided to focus on a sport that is part of the Olympic charter. In 2014, she got so inspired by Mary Kom’s story after watching the movie and decided to take up boxing,” Chandni’s mother Kanchan says.
Kanchan herself being a former national-level tennis player is passionate about sports. However, lack of facilities near her erstwhile residence in Ajmer, Rajasthan, forced the mother-daughter duo to shift their base to first Kurukshetra in Haryana and later in Patiala, Punjab.
“We are a sporting family. My father, an Armyman, was a golfer and I played tennis. We know the value of right training and coaching, hence we decided to shift our base. Now Chandni has been training in Dubai,” the mother informs.
Starting her amateur boxing journey in 2016, Chandni decided to turn pro after having a bitter experience in the Youth Nationals in Rohtak. “She was very upset after she was victim of biased refereeing in the Nationals in 2017. She opted for Pro boxing as only strongest boxer wins there and there is very little scope for partiality,” she said.
Although Chandni turned Pro, her dream of representing India at the Olympics is still alive.
“Pro boxers can win quotas for Olympics now and it is her sole aim to play for the country and win medals at the Olympics,” the proud mother said.
Chandni holds a professional boxing license from the Indian Boxing Council, the National Commission for Professional Boxing in India.
