agencies
New Delhi, Dec 11: The one-year ban could not waver her focus but Asian Games bronze-medallist boxer L Sarita Devi stated here Friday that she did feel a moment of self-doubt while stepping into the ring for her comeback bout during the just-concluded training-cum-competition trip to China. The Manipur pugilist returned to the country from the Chinese city of Qian’an in the wee hours Friday morning. She fought three bouts winning two of them.
“I have been competing for so many years but this was my first competition after the ban. So, when I went to the ring for my first fight against Mongolia’s Sowoderden, I cannot deny that I was nervous. There was self-doubt but then it took me just a few seconds into the fight to get over it,” Sarita said.
“I had been preparing for this moment for the last three months and when I felt jittery, I told myself how hard I had worked to get back. That’s how I fought the nervousness, which is natural when you are coming back from a prolonged break,” Sarita added.
The former World Champion and Glasgow CWG silver-medallist had prepared for the comeback by training for a month in Liverpool.
“My punches had power, but during the competition in China, I realised that I needed to improve my speed,” stated Sarita. “I am growing old, but the competition is getting younger. The Mongolian girl I fought against, troubled me because she had more speed than I had.”