Not only Kashmiri girl Tajamul Islam won gold at the World Kickboxing Championship. 15-year-old Pallavi Raj was among the gold medallists too in a competition where India won 26 medals, including 11 gold. Pallavi is from Ambika Bhawani in a small village Ami, which is in Dighwara under Saran district. Her father is a staff in Sahara Bank and in her own words, their financial condition is not very good.
However, that doesn’t stop Pallavi or her family from dreaming big and going for the top.
Pallavi fought five bouts at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt during the Worlds and won all of them to bag the gold medal. Her first bout was against France, second and fourth against Egypt, third against Uganda and her final opponent was from Poland on October 21.
“My family has supported me from the start, which is why I could reach the world level. In the future they want me to become an Olympic gold medallist,” Pallavi shared in an exclusive conversation with News18.com.
Pallavi started her kickboxing journey in October, 2014 and just two months later, she participated in her first Junior National Kickboxing Championship in Kurukshetra (Haryana) where she won the gold medal. Pallavi is a six-time national champion and on August 29, 2019, she was also honoured with ‘Bihar Khel Samman’.
Ahead of the World Championship, Pallavi and the other kickboxers had a camp in New Delhi from October 1 till October 16. On October 17, the team left the national capital and reached Cairo the next day. Pallavi’s first match was on October 19.
After winning the gold medal, Pallavi returned to New Delhi on October 27 and went to Dighwara by train the next day.
“My parents were very happy, they welcomed me at the station along with my neighbours and people from my practice place.
“The state government should be doing that, I saw other medallists being received and honoured by their state governments but Bihar government didn’t do anything even though I won gold. Our government doesn’t even know that a girl from the state has won gold in the world championship. Bihar government provides no support at all,” Pallavi rued.
However, on her return home she was treated to her favourite dry fruits halwa and gulab jamun, which were both prepared by her mother.
Pallavi is currently in her 11th standard pursuing humanities but wants to reach the Olympic level in the future. “Next year we have Asian Games in China. Hopefully in the future, there comes a time when I can go to the Olympics and make the country proud. I have my full focus on the game but education will go along,” she concluded.
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