RANI Pooja

Olympic qualifying results
She secured a spot for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo through her performance at the 2020 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Amman, Jordan. (indiatoday.in, 09 Mar 2020)

General
OCCUPATION
She works in the income tax department of the government of India. (Facebook profile, 30 Mar 2020)

EARLY DAYS
She grew up in a family that did not support women playing any kind of sport. But, being a boxing enthusiast, she was always on the lookout for opportunities to start her training. Even though she got a chance to join an academy in her hometown, she was scared to tell her father of her passion. Sometimes she had to hide her injuries so that her father would not find out. "My parents were dead against my plans of making a career out of boxing. My father would say, 'Good children don't play boxing'. Such was the situation that I feared my father would stop me from going to the boxing ring if he saw my injuries. So, I used to conceal my injuries from him as well as my mother." However, the situation improved at her home after she won silver in the 2009 National Youth Championships. Two months later she defeated experienced boxer Preeti Beniwal at the Indian state championships. "Nobody objected after that win. All my family members became supportive." (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 25 May 2014)