From helping M. C. Mary Kom extend her career to guiding Jaismine Lamboria to a world title, boxing coach Chhote Lal Yadav’s personalised approach has earned him the prestigious Dronacharya Award.
The 38-year-old Army man has also overseen the progress of Commonwealth Games gold medallists Sakshi Chaudhary and Arundhati Choudhary. But his ambitions now stretch to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“I am very happy but I don’t have to stop here. I need to work harder. My aim is that my boxers win 2-3 gold medals at the LA Olympics,” Yadav told PTI.
Yadav was himself a competitive boxer, featuring in the national setup between 2001 and 2012. He won an Asian Championships gold and three consecutive national featherweight titles from 2008 to 2010.
A back and spinal injury in 2012 ended his Olympic ambitions but opened the door to coaching. That year, he was initially asked to assist Mary Kom for just 15-20 days.
After completing his coaching diploma at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, in 2014, Yadav began working with Mary Kom full-time in 2017.
“She was a champion before I started training her. My biggest challenge was how to keep a celebrity and champion a champion,” he recalled.
Yadav introduced “smart training”, adjusting workloads according to Mary Kom’s age and physical requirements.
“It was a challenge for me at that time, I was not sure if it would work, but it did.”
Mary Kom subsequently won the 2017 Asian Championships, Commonwealth Games gold and another World Championships title, while also qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.
“I make a personalised training programme for every boxer,” Yadav said.
That philosophy also helped revive Jaismine after she missed the Paris Olympics. Yadav altered her strength and technical training before she went on to become a world champion.
“He has a huge role in my World Championship title. He worked on my technical and strength training after the Paris Olympics. He changed my game with strength,” Jaismine said.
She also praised his willingness to seek specialist assistance when required.
“Chhote sir knows everything about women’s boxing — how to train, how to recover. He is very open-minded, so we are able to share things with him comfortably,” she said.
For Yadav, coaching remains more than a profession.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know anything apart from boxing and coaching in life. I always want to be a good coach,” he said.
