Slug: Kickboxing / Championship Vadodara: As a child, Dinkal Gorkha was often teased for a limp in her leg, leaving her embarrassed. However, at the age of nine, she watched a Hindi film based on boxer Mary Kom, which inspired her to take up kickboxing. Despite being advised by many not to practise kickboxing due to her impaired leg, Gorkha was determined to prove her mettle.
The 18-year-old has gone on to win her first medal in the Kickboxing World Cup held recently in Uzbekistan. Gorkha won a silver medal in the point fight senior female category and a bronze in the light contact category. "I was confident of bagging a medal in the world championship.
I had practised very hard for it," Gorkha told TOI. Her journey as a sportsperson has been inspiring, as she suffered a grievous injury to her left leg in a road accident at the age of three, while her mother, Shobha, lost both her legs. Shobha got into liquor selling to make ends meet and educate her two daughters.
Gorkha said that she had to fight social stigma as her mother was a bootlegger. However, Shobha later quit her illicit business and started a roadside food stall to ensure a good future for her daughters. Gorkha began learning kickboxing in 2018 under her coach, Siddharth Bhalegare, who mentored and inspired her to practise the sport despite the occasional pain in her left leg.
She went on to win state as well as national kickboxing championships in the next six years. "She is a gritty girl who is completely focuse.