When Sri Gobind Singh College,Sector 26 won the Inter-College Boxing Championship for the year 2008-09,there was a faint smile on the face of Sonia Kanwal,Director Physical Education Department of the college. After all,her college had won the boxing title after a gap of almost four years. Now months later,Sonia has landed another feather in her cap. She has cleared the Asian Boxing Confederation examination,which makes her eligible to officiate in international tournaments. "There were around 25 Asians taking the exams but only three of us-Gauri Vaid of Maharashtra,Colonel Parmar and I cleared the exams after appearing in the examinations during the Asian Women Boxing Championship held at Guwahati in September 2008. We were informed about our results from the Asian Boxing Confederation through an email," shares the 30-year-old Sonia who has become the only women official from North India to clear the exam. Though she has experience of international tournaments,having worked as a technical organiser during the Women's World Amateur Boxing Championship held at New Delhi in 2006,Asian Women Boxing Championship held at Guwahati and Hissar,she will be officiating in her first international tournament in the form of AK Mishra International Boxing Championship to be held in March in Chandigarh. "My name has been nominated by the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation for the AK Mishra Championship as a technical official. I am very excited," exclaims Sonia who cleared the Referee/ Judge or RC test conducted by Indian Amateur Boxing Association during the Nationals held at Chennai in 2001. "Though it was for the first time that I was participating in a national championship,I did not play any bout and opted for the test instead. Dr C K Jerath pushed me to take the test and it is due to him that I have reached at this level," says Sonia who has also been appointed as Ring Official Commission (ROC) member by IABF. Sonia,who has got all the adulations and recognition from boxing,was not into this sport when she started her career into sports. "I was into judo and I have represented India at international level in Kazakhstan. Besides that,I was a three-time gold medallist in All India University Judo Championship," recalls Sonia. The switch from judo to boxing was easy because both are combative sports and there are lots of similarities between the two. So did not face any difficulty in switching over," she explains. After joining Sri Guru Gobind Singh College and working wonders with the men's boxing team,Sonia also dreams of forming a women team. However,she feels that dream will take some time to realise. "Let's hope that Association of Indian Universities (AIU) will draft Inter-College women boxing championship soon so that women boxing can prosper in the region. Women's boxing is still neglected when we compare it to men's because men get all the facilities while women hardly get any support. Chandigarh has plenty of exciting female boxing talents at junior level but they need a platform where they can exhibit their skills. They also need encouragement," briefs Sonia who will also officiate in the Sub-Junior Women National Boxing Championship to be held in Goa from March 25.
