A star-studded WhatsApp group of Bhiwani’s boxing stalwarts has been buzzing since early Sunday morning with congratulatory messages for three-time national champion Parvinder Lamboriya, whose niece, Jaismine Lamboriya, upheld the region’s proud boxing legacy by winning the gold medal in the 57-kg weight category at the 2025 World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, early on Sunday morning (India time).
Among the first to send a text applauding the tall 24-year-old, who stunned Paris Olympic silver medalist Julia Szeremeta of Poland with a commanding 4-1 verdict, was Bhiwani’s most famous son — the 2008 Beijing Games bronze medalist Vijender Singh. Olympians — 2006 Commonwealth Games champion Akhil Kumar and Jai Bhagwan — welcomed the latest entrant to Bhiwani’s Hall of Fame with happy emojis.
Not too far from Bhiwani, another Haryana district was readying for festivities. Minakshi Hooda, another lanky 24-year-old from Rurkee Kiloi village in Rohtak district, climbed to the top of the podium at Liverpool in the 48-kg category, out-punching Paris Olympics bronze medallist Nazym Kyzaibay from Kazakhstan, later in the day.
For Minakshi, whose father ferries passengers in his second-hand auto-rickshaw in Rohtak to make ends meet, it was a fairytale ending. “Meri chhori duniya jeetegi. (My daughter will conquer the world),” her father, Srikrishna, said after her win in the quarter-finals earlier. And Minakshi, a constable with the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), did exactly that.
Back in Bhiwani, Parvinder, was happy that Jaismine achieved what he couldn’t. He is excited that his famous friends reached out to him. “Vijender and others are like family. When Jaismine won the title in the World Boxing Championships, they were all celebrating as if it was their own medal. With this medal, my niece has once again stamped Bhiwani’s name on world boxing,” he told The Indian Express.
Jaismine’s mother, Joginder Kaur, overwhelmed by the crowd that descended at her place, said she’s been busy all morning. Every guest has been taking pains to explain to her what Jaismine has achieved. “People tell me that she is one of the strongest in the ring and is a world champion in her weight category. But I tell them, for me, she will always remain Chinu… it’s what everyone calls her at home. She has been a lucky child for me. She was born after I lost an infant son; after her birth, I lost two daughters because of some ailments,” she recalled. “Apart from her medals, the proudest day for us was when she joined the Indian Army’s Corps of Military Police,” she said.
Like her mother said, Jaismine was lucky to be born in Haryana’s boxing hub and to have an uncle who was a reputed pugilist. It was in the late 1990s that Parvinder, along with Vijender, joined the Bhiwani Boxing Club, which would later become a nursery for world-class pugilists. With the success of boxers from the region, the sport caught the fancy of youths – first boys, and then girls, who, by 2002, could be seen sparring in the ring.
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It was around this time that a reputed woman boxer, Meena Kumari, shifted base to Bhiwani to train with the area’s illustrious coach, Jagdish Singh of the Bhiwani Boxing Club, who had spotted the early spark in Vijender.
At the club, which is just four kilometres from the Lamboriya family home, Jagdish Singh said Jaismine’s medal was something that was waiting to happen. “In 2002, when I introduced women’s boxing in Bhiwani, most of Haryana’s winners were from Rewari and Hisar. At that time, there used to be one-two bouts in some categories. But then the likes of Meena Kumari, who won the bronze in the 48-kg category in the 2002 World Boxing Championships in Turkey, and Renu Gora, who won the bronze in the 80-kg category in the 2006 World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, put Bhiwani on the women’s boxing map. In recent years, the number of participants has increased at the district level – even at the junior level. Nearly 250 girls train in 20-odd academies in Bhiwani alone. I am sure Bhiwani will bring India’s first gold in the Olympics too,” he said.
Jaismine’s other uncle, Sandeep Lamboriya, is also a two-time national champion and youth Commonwealth Games participant. He was instrumental in persuading Jaismine’s grandfather, Chandrabhan, a retired Armyman, to allow her to enter the boxing ring in 2015. “Her grandfather did not want her to join boxing, but Parvinder and I ensured that she did. Jasmine’s mother persuaded us to talk to her grandfather, and we were able to convince him. There has been no looking back since then,” he said.
“Away from the ring, Jaismine is still very shy. I know I will have a difficult time coaxing her to treat herself with an ice-cream or Bhiwani’s famous paneer pakoda to celebrate this gold,” he said.
