The Indian Army's first woman boxer is now chasing Commonwealth gold

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Jaismine Lamboria is one of India's strongest boxing gold-medal prospects at the Glasgow Games

The reigning 57kg world champion boxer Jaismine Lamboria from India throws punches for a living, but when it comes to handling pressure, she looks to one of her country's most celebrated cricketing legends for inspiration.

"I really admire MS Dhoni's mindset," says the soft-spoken Lamboria of the former Indian captain. "He is known as 'Captain Cool' for a reason, and I want to be calm like him."

That composure will be particularly valuable for Lamboria over the coming days.

The 24-year-old is one of India's strongest boxing gold-medal prospects at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games , looking to improve on the bronze she won at Birmingham 2022.

Coming off a breakout 2025 during which she won World Cup golds in Astana and Delhi before becoming world champion in Liverpool, Lamboria is in Glasgow with an uncomplicated ambition.

"I aim to change the colour of that medal to gold," she says. "That's what I've been training and preparing towards."

At 5ft 8½in, Lamboria is tall by Indian boxing standards. Her Olympic debut in Paris ended in a first-round defeat to Tokyo silver medallist Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines.

But the setback came in the weight class she had only recently returned to. After spending nearly three years boxing at 60kg, Lamboria dropped back to 57kg during the Paris qualification campaign - a move that ultimately paid off when she won the world title by defeating Paris Olympic silver medallist Julia Atena Szeremeta of Poland.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images Image caption, Lamboria (left) is the the first female boxer inducted into the Indian Army

"That Paris 2024 Olympics exit was disappointing but it was an eye-opener," says Lamboria. "It prompted several changes in me - physically and mentally. And a significant part of it has come about at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune, which is where I train."

Lamboria credits her ASI coaches for improving his physical strength and a motivational coach and sports psychologist for sharpening her mental game.

The Indian Army, however, has provided the wider institutional framework around much of her development.

After winning bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Lamboria became the first female boxer inducted into the army, joining the Corps of Military Police. She now trains under its Mission Olympics Wing.

"It's a great honour they wanted to begin with me, but I also see it as an opportunity to become a role model for female athletes," says Lamboria of joining a system that has produced Olympians and Paralympians, including Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra.

In early 2024, the Indian Army launched the Girls Sports Company to train girls aged 12 to 16 in four Olympic sports, including boxing, creating a pathway to elite competition and army recruitment.

"These girl athletes are doing very well too," says Lamboria. "One boxer has already won Asian Championships gold, which makes me really happy. I may have been the first female boxer in the Indian Army, but I won't be the last."

Lamboria's relationship with boxing, however, began long before the army entered her story.

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Lamboria (right) began boxing seriously when she was around 14 years old

Born in the northern state of Haryana, she grew up in Bhiwani, a city synonymous with Indian boxing and widely nicknamed the country's 'Mini Cuba'.

Her great-grandfather Hawa Singh was one of Indian boxing's early giants. A heavyweight, he won successive Asian Games gold medals in 1966 and 1970 and was among those who established the famed Bhiwani Boxing Club, which would later produce boxers including Olympic medallist Vijender Singh.

Even so, it is not Hawa's medals that feature most prominently in the stories Lamboria remembers hearing about him at home. "He was powerful, but there was also so much humility in him," she says.

Her earliest boxing influences were her uncles, Sandeep Singh and Parvinder Singh. "I grew up watching them compete," she says. "They were the ones who got me started."

Lamboria began boxing seriously around the age of 14, training first at an academy run by Hawa's son, Sanjay Sheoran, before continuing under her uncles.

Though the sport ran through her extended family, Lamboria grew up in a household of modest means. Her father, Jaiveer, works as a home guard, while her mother, Joginder, is a homemaker.

"Their support has been a big reason why I was the first girl in my immediate family to take up sport seriously," she says, "not least as the youngest among the girls in the family."

Her inspirations, meanwhile, extend well beyond her own family.

Image source, Getty Images for Commonwealth Sport Image caption, Lamboria wants to win the gold at the Glasgow games

Lamboria grew up idolising Olympic medallists MC Mary Kom and Vijender Singh. Later, she looked up to Indian Army boxers Amit Panghal and Manish Kaushik, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, American swimming great Michael Phelps and Indian sprinting legend Milkha Singh.

Closer to home, she credits senior Indian boxers Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain and Pooja Rani, not just for their medals but for the encouragement they offer younger athletes.

"When you look at them, you naturally feel that you want to do what they have done," she says.

Now, Lamboria is beginning to occupy that role herself.

"For a long time, boxing has been seen as a male-dominated sport," she says. "Being a woman boxer and an Army athlete, it means a lot to compete on the world stage, prove myself and inspire others through my performances."

That change is reflected in the Commonwealth Games too. Boxing has been part of the event since 1930, but women's competition was introduced only in 2014. In Glasgow, bouts begin on 24 July, with the finals on 31 July and 1 August.

After winning bronze in Birmingham four years ago, Lamboria hopes to leave Glasgow with gold.

"When you're competing overseas and the national anthem plays, it's a completely different feeling," she says.

"I experienced that at the World Championships in Liverpool last year. That's the moment I want to recreate here."