New Delhi: Renowned woman boxer and Olympian Sarjubala Devi has announced her entry into the professional stream of her sport. The 28-year-old Manipur boxer has signed a deal with Mujtaba Kamal, a leading boxing promoter in India who owns Grassroot Boxing Promotions and Management, PTI reports. Sarjubala is to make her professional boxing debut on February 26 in Dubai.
She had won silver in the 2014 AIBA World Boxing Championship in Korea and gold in Youth World Boxing. A four-time national champion, she had fought for India in many international tournaments to win medals in almost all of them. She was ranked second in her weight category in 2014.
In a press conference, Mujtaba Kamal said that h was happy to take the sensational Sarjubala with him. This is an important day for our sport as she joins the professional ranks. Sarjubala is one of the most recognized Indian women's amateur boxers of all time and a public figure in Manipur, he added. Mujtaba manages some of the ace professional boxers in India. The prominent of them were reigning WBC India Champion Sabari J, WBC Asian Silver medalist Karthik S, Faizan Anwar, WBC youth world champion lalrinsanga Tau, Asif Asad and Gurpreet Singh.
Indian Boxing Council President Brigadier PK Muralidharan Raja said the Olympian is an outstanding boxer and she becoming a professional is great news for her fans. Her career and family background were always an inspiration for young people of Manipur, and they are excited for her first game in February 2022, he added.
The press conference was also attended by the Director General of Police, Manipur, P Doungal.