Daughter of tractor mechanic, Manisha attains her greatest achievement in Boxing World Championships

Manisha's persistence to be a boxer has paid off brilliantly for the 24-year-old, as growing up in Matour village in Haryana's Kaithal district, her parents made it clear they won't allow their daughter to take up an injury-prone sport. So at that point, a 12-year-old Manisha decided to pursue boxing without letting her parents know.

It was only after two years that her father came to know about her pursuits seeing the newspaper that had published the report of her victory in a district-level competition. Witnessing her daughter's progress, tractor-mechanic Krishan Moun finally lent his support.

The girl who used to accompany her brother to the volleyball stadium was approached by boxing coach Rajinder Singh in 2012 and thus began her journey. Since the initial days of her career, injuries and her family's condition has toughened her up. When she began her boxing career, her father suffered a severe heart attack. He wasn't able to work and fend for his medical expense particularly when he was admitted to the hospital for a month.

Manisha learnt to take part in the family's financial contribution at a very early age when she started to bring home all the prize money she won in boxing competitions.

Within a year of starting her career, Manisha tasted success when she won the silver medal at the junior Haryana boxing championships in 2013. The young boxer then went on to win All India Inter-University titles in 2016 and 2017. The next year turned out to be a watershed moment in her career on both national and international stages.

After winning the trials, she went on to take part in the 2018 Women's World Championships in Delhi. Manisha burst into a Giant Killing spree where she toppled two-time world championship medallist Christina Cruz of the USA and 2017 world champion Dina Zhalaman of Kazakhstan. She reached the quarter-finals before losing to the 2016 world championship silver medallist Stoyko Petrova of Bulgaria.

Her fine run at the National Championships continued the next year when she clinched a silver medal and topped it with a memorable bronze medal win in the 54kg category at the 2019 Asian Boxing Championships.

Following an elbow injury that year, Manisha switched to the 57kg category, which is why she had to miss out on participating in the 2019 World Championships. She overcame all odds and fine-tuned her game training under coach Ron Simms Jr. at Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) in Karnataka in 2020. It paid off immediately, as she won the gold medal at the Cologne World Cup in Germany in 2020.

As she steps inside the ring today to take on Testa in the semifinals, she would be vying to better her medal colour from the bronze that she has already ensured. And a World Championship medal is already the biggest cap she has added to her crown.