After her invincible performances in Super Fight league, Asha Roka is set to chase her childhood dream, wearing boxing gloves for Super Boxing league. Asha tells Aditya K Halder about how she manages to keep up with the brutality of Mixed Martial Arts and at the same time able to find time for her first love — Boxing
Never judge a book by its cover. The phrase fits well with a shy Asha Roka, who turns into a brute Mixed Martial Arts fighter as soon as she enters the octagon-shaped arena.
The 18-year-old was seen in action against USA's Hannah Kampf in New Delhi last February at the Super Fight league - "desi" version of the mixed martial art contact sports, popularly known as UFC in the west.
Crowd at the Siri Fort Auditorium wanted their desi girl to win but were not sure if this mere five-feet tall fighter has any chance against a foreign opponent. But what they witnessed next was implausible and horrific at the same time. Before Hannah could get into an offensive position, Asha pounced on her like a tigress — grabbing her counterpart by neck and choking Hannah till the cornerman intervened to save Hannah's life. The pocket-size beast won the bout in a whopping 42 seconds. And that isn't the only highlight of her blistering MMA career as she remains unbeaten in four fights she has had, knocking all her opponents to ground within two minutes. Asha's invincible presence in SFl won her player of the league.
Despite her dominance in the sports, MMA is not her first love as her heart lies in boxing.
"In my town — Nepalganj, Uttar Pradesh — I went with my brother to watch him bout at his academy. There I saw girls practicing with boys, even outperforming them, that inspired me to join boxing," said Asha.
Back in December 2012. Seeing her boxing future in despair due to a ban on Indian Boxing Federation for three years, Asha decided to change her profession. And daring as ever she is, the 17-year-old girl decided to get involved with MMA against her family's wishes.
"After getting no boxing competition to participate in, one of my friends suggested me to join MMA. I decided to join the three months MMA training programme. Seeing the violence in the game, my parents were not at all happy about me joining the sports. But I knew I had to make a decision, so I went for the training against their wishes," said Asha.
Asha wanted to make it clear that people in her town don't have any reservation against girls doing boxing.
"People in Nepalganj are very supportive of their kids involved in sports. My parents too supported me to keep on going with boxing even when I lost hope after losing my World Championship bout," stressed Asha.
Being a fighter since childhood, 90-day MMA training programme was enough for Asha to qualify for SFl in her first trial. Once she got into SFl with her team Sher-e-Punjab, Asha got the opportunity to hone her MMA skills under super coach Kashmir Singh Gill — former four-time kickboxing World Champion.
"Roka is an amazing talent and will dominate the ladies division in years to come," said the legendary kickboxer, popularly known as Kash the flash in UK. "She is a real joy to coach and she has a bright future waiting for her."
With Super Boxing league, the versatile fighter will be wearing her boxing gloves again in her favourite square ring. At this young age, she would be leading the team North-East Tigers. Being the only girl captain among seven other guys, the shy girl looked flattered but determined at the same time to lead her side.
"I am surprised that they made me captain, I wasn't expecting it," she smiled shyly. "But I feel proud that I am the only (captain) among so many boys. I will try my best to lead from the front."
Bill Dosanjh, founder and CEO of both SFl and SBl, has no doubt in Asha's capability of being a young leader and feels she is the prized possession of the league.
"She is meant to be a leader. Players like Asha symbolises female dominance in sports. It is commendable how she outperformed some of the best opponents in her category. We are the glad to have such talent on board," said Dosanjh.
In both the contact sports, one needs to step into the ring knowing the right approach and Asha understood it well and looked upbeat about it.
"MMA is very aggressive, you have to go for the kill from the word go. But you can't do that in boxing; You have to be defensively alert and offensively opportunistic. Boxing is a mind game," explained the confident teen boxer.
Showing strength to fight and make her own career decision at a tender age, the shy girl from Nepalganj, who idolises Mary Kom, does seem to have a bright future ahead of her.