Ranchi:
Their wide shoulders and rock-solid bodies make them a natural choice for the ring, but the young Birhor tribals of Jharkhand took to boxing not by choice, but out of necessity.
For the tribal boys of the remote and rugged Chalkari village in the Dhanbad district, who mostly depend on NREGA programmes for survival, the prime motivation for their picking up the punching gloves is to escape poverty.
Once they enroll as trainees with the Dhanbad District Amateur Boxing Association (DDABA), which has taken up developing their natural skills in boxing, they get adequate food. The training also provides them an opportunity to make a living out of the sport.
Birhor boys mostly spend their day either accompanying their elders to the forests to hunt rabbits or climb the hills to feed cattle.
"When I saw the boys with their powerful physiques, specially the wrists, it struck me as to why not give them the boxing ring?" Ashutosh Kumar, coordinator of a self-help group Sambedana, who was instrumental in taking the DDABA into the hilly and rugged Chalkari village where the youth reside,
said.
Starting with just 10 Birhor boys in the remote village, the number has swelled to 70 within a month, says an elated secretary of the DDABA, Paritosh Kumar.
Ashutosh Kumar said that a boxing ring was set up in the village where about 43 families of the primitive tribe reside, hardly with any basic amenities.
Paritosh Kumar said that the boys, aged 10-16, showed enough enthusiasm, when the DDBA provided two pairs of gloves, two head-gears and a punching-bag. Every Sunday, former district boxers train them while they practice every day as per the schedule drawn for them.
The boys have been divided into five to six groups with each group taking turns in using the boxing kit. He said that boxing being a power game to sustain their enthusiasm, the main concern of the organisers was how to arrange diet for the kids who come from families below poverty line.
"Some people have approached us. It is good that boxing is reaching down to village level," the secretary-general of the Jharkhand Olympic Association, S M Hashmi, said.
Paritosh Kumar regretted that he had approached the Topchahchi block development officer to arrange gur (molasses) and grams for the children to eat before they hit the ring, but so far there was no response.
Ashutosh Kumar said his self-help group works in the promotion of Birhor's education, culture and their herbal medicines, apart from boxing. "We have sent samples of 54 herbal medicines used by the Birhors to a centre expertising on herbal medicines for test."
"We hope they will get a chance to represent the district as well as state meets scheduled to be held in
August," the DDABA secretary said.
He said after giving them basic training, the DDABA was trying to take services of specialist boxing trainers from Jamshedpur before the competitions.
"The boys have natural and inherent talent. Their build suits boxing," said Zuber Alam, joint secretary of the District Sports Association, who visited the ring out of curiosity.
DDABA president Dalbara Singh said his endeavour was to bring the Birhors to the sporting limelight which would inspire their community, notwithstanding their dwindling numbers. As per the 2001 census, the Birhors number just 7,514 in the entire state.