Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Magic runs in this family’s veins but Mumtaz Sorcar, the 15-year-old daughter of legendary P.C. Sorcar Jr, wants to let her fists do the talking. Her grandfather, by some counts, was the subject of the maximum number of articles and cartoons ever dedicated to a magician; and her two sisters have earned a name for themselves in the field. But Mumtaz is bent on creating magic in an entirely different ring — boxing.
Far from disappointed, P.C. Sorcar Jr got her admitted to the South Calcutta Physical Culture Association, a renowned club that gives training in boxing, recently and she now has two coaches, Sujoy Guha and Jameel Alam.
Says P.C. Sorcar Jr: ‘‘All my three daughters (the other two being Maneka and Mouboni) are magicians, but I don’t mind if Mumtaz does not step in my footsteps. I think more girls should come to sports like boxing.’’
Mumtaz, who has been a keen athlete and has won several prizes in school meets, says she was always attracted to boxing. ‘‘Since my childhood, I cherished a desire to become a boxer but studies prevented me as I always believed that if one should do something, he or she should do it seriously,’’ says the Class X student, who is going to appear in the Madhyamik examinations.
Her dedication — she rarely misses the classes held thrice a week — has impressed her coaches. ‘‘She has both brains and brawn, which are necessary,’’ says Asit Banerjee, president of the Bengal Amateur Boxing Federation that runs the south Kolkata club. He adds: ‘‘She is picking up fast. Since there is no sub-junior national championship for women right now, we cannot send her, but when she becomes 17, I hope she will merit a place in the Bengal squad.’’
According to Banerjee, P.C. Sorcar is very serious about her daughter’s training. ‘‘Sorcar told me he wanted to pay for a trainer who would come to their house once or twice a week.’’
Her coaches are equally euphoric. ‘‘I am not giving a certificate since she is a daughter of P.C. Sorcar, but the way she is learning, I am sure she will go miles in this sport,’’ Jameel Alam told The Indian Express. ‘‘She has a good physique and she is intelligent. Right now the way she executes ‘left right’ (the first lesson in boxing) is wonderful. What one can do after four months she is doing after training merely for a month-and-a-half,’’ he adds.
Not surprisingly, one of Mumtaz’s heroes is Laila Ali, the daughter of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. ‘‘She has inspired me a lot and I seldom miss the boxing bouts she is in,’’ Mumtaz says.
