At 11, Sakshi Chaudhary watched Vijender Singh box on television. She didn’t know it then, but that moment would change her life.
Sakshi grew up in Dhanana, a village in Haryana’s Bhiwani district. Her father, Manoj Kumar, was a farmer and her mother a homemaker. When they saw their daughter’s energy and fighting spirit, they decided to channel it into boxing.
But getting to the boxing ring was itself a daily struggle. Her father would cycle more than 20 kilometres to take Sakshi to the Bhiwani Boxing Club and bring her back. At the club, the training was tough. Along with school, she trained for hours, morning and evening, learning to turn raw energy into discipline.
The early signs were promising. Sakshi became a junior world champion and went on to win two World Youth Championship titles. But moving into senior boxing was a different fight. Victories were followed by disappointing defeats, injuries and missed opportunities. A shoulder injury kept her out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2023 Asian Games. She had also narrowly missed the Tokyo Olympics.
There were moments when the dream seemed to be slipping away. But her family kept believing. Sakshi returned from injury, changed her weight category from 54kg to 51kg and fought her way through the selection trials. In the process, she beat two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen to earn her place at Glasgow 2026.
There was help along the way too. During a difficult phase in her career, Virat Kohli supported her through his foundation, helping her continue her journey when she needed it most.
And then came Glasgow. Making her Commonwealth Games debut at 25, Sakshi walked into the ring carrying fourteen years of training, disappointment, family sacrifice and unfinished dreams. She left it as a Commonwealth champion.
In the 51kg final, she defeated England’s Ruby White 5–0 to win gold. For Sakshi, that medal was never just about one fight. It belonged to the farmer who cycled her to training, the mother who stood behind her, the coaches who pushed her, the people who supported her when things went wrongand the girl who simply refused to stop fighting. Fourteen years after she first stepped into a boxing ring, Sakshi finally had her golden moment.
