Arundhati Choudhary recently expressed deep surprise and joy when she received a huge response at her home city of Kota, Rajasthan, after her gold medal winning performance at the Commonwealth Games. The world champion boxer and her family and the government representatives came on a road trip of 250 km from Jaipur to Kota. An emotional and physically exhausted Arundhati gave her mother Sunita her medal when she finally got to her home, and she was with family and friends.
Arundhati was left with an epiphany when she saw such widespread public and official support of sport in her home state. She said it was always believed that such a passionate and supportive environment for athletes existed only in states like Haryana but her recent experience made one realize that Rajasthan is transforming into an ever-expanding hub of sports excellence. Speaking to the Press Trust of India next to her father Suresh Choudhary (who is also president of the Kota Boxing Association) about the formidable physical, financial and societal obstacles she faced in order to achieve the summit of her sport.
One of the hardest obstacles in the training was to lose weight ahead of fights. Also, being a strict vegetarian in the world imposed unique dietary requirements and personal sacrifice on her so she needed to keep up the best of it and maintain peak physical conditioning away from home. As a result, Arundhati showed excellent skill and determination at the Commonwealth Games and defeated the defending champion Rosie Eccles in a tense semi-final and world championship bronze medallist Chantelle Reid in the summit clash.
With her eyes set on the future, the champion boxer is already turning her sights to her next big career achievement. Only two years left to the Los Angeles Olympic Games, Arundhati is still focused on getting a place in the World Championships next April. It is still hard for her to balance intense training and a very regimented recovery. After months of constant diet and intense competition schedule— she jokes that she finally ate four chapatis after winning the gold medal—Arundhati Choudhary is ready for the Olympics.
