Whenever India’s name comes up in the world of sports, fans think about soccer, hockey, and cricket. However, not many will associate India with combat sports. Although the country has produced Olympics medal-winning boxers like Vijender Singh, Mary Kom, and Lovlina Borgohain, not many have gone on to have successful pro careers. However, one emerging talent who is looking to change that, is Nilakhi Saikia.
Nilakhi Saikia is a kickboxing/boxing talent from India, who dreams to make it big someday. She was born in the Nagaon district of Assam. Saikia belongs to a small village called Jolah. Like any other village girl, she is also interested in dancing and drawing. Nilakhi is especially good at the traditional Assamese dance form called ‘Bihu.’
She also takes a keen interest in ‘Dhul,’ which is also an Assamese traditional instrument. The 25-year-old holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics as well. However, she is not just anyone else, Nilakhi is a dedicated combat sports athlete as well. She is a 4-time state champion in kickboxing. Saikia is also a 2-time national silver medalist in kickboxing.
Nilakhi Saikia has held the K1 Pro kickboxing championship belt 2 times. Other than that, Saikia has won the WAKO India Open International kickboxing championship. In terms of boxing, Nilakhi is a state medalist in boxing. Despite all her achievements, Saikia goes through financial struggles on a daily basis. Although athletes such as her have big dreams, there are very few resources for them to make the dreams come true.
Recently, her coach and fighter Jyotirmoy Boro spoke to Sportsmanor and told her story. It is one that ignites inspiration and sheds light on the day-to-day issues the rural fighters face in India.
Coach Jyotirmoy Boro talks about champion kickboxer Nilakhi Saikia and highlights her struggles
When we got in touch with Jyotirmoy Boro, Nilakhi Saika was also going to be a part of the interview. However, language barriers prevented from that taking place. Instead, Mr. Boro was kind enough to speak on her behalf and tell the story. In the following interview, he went through the state of combat sports in India, the daily hardships of the fighters, and how things need to change.
Nilakhi Saikia is a champion kickboxer
Jyotirmoy Boro started off by introducing his athlete. He listed off Nilakhi’s achievements in kickboxing. Saikia has won copious amounts of trophies and championships in her career. From winning WAKO championships to earning success in state championships, Nilakhi’s pedigree and winning mentality are very evident.
“First of all, I’d like to highlight the achievements she has achieved. Nilakhi is 2 times National Amateur Kickboxing Silver Medalist and 2 times National K1 Pro Kickboxing Champion and title holder.” Boro continued, “Apart from being state champion, she is a 2-time professional K-1 title belt holder. Recently, in the month of November from 2nd to 7th November, WAKO India, they organized one open India international championship in Delhi. So there she represented India in the -56 KG category (Low Kick Event).”
“There she managed to secure silver medal by defeating her Uzbekistani opponent. So a really commendable achievement from her part. Apart from kickboxing (2-time national silver medalist in amateur kickboxing), she also participated in boxing. She is a state silver medalist in boxing and yes, these are her achievements,” stated the coach.
Nilakhi Saikia is a fighter in and out of the ring
Jyotirmoy Boro saluted Nilakhi for continuing her career despite not having a significant amount of financial backing. Saikia’s father is a small entrepreneur who does not have the means to support his daughter’s career ambitions. But, she did not let that hamper her preparations to build up a great resume.
“I’m really honored to have students like her. These warriors are absolute beasts and they are very dedicated. You know they’re very dedicated towards their goal. It is not only her dream, but it is also my dream that one of my players someday definitely represent India. Which will ultimately bring pride not only to our region but to the entire nation as a whole.”
Despite all of their hard work, at a certain point, a fighter needs a lot of advanced equipment and resources to take the next step in their career. However, that is something that Nilkahi can not afford. She needs to undergo better training regiments, but her lack of resources does not allow it.
“But yes, if somebody asks me if there should be any addition to her training, then I’d definitely say yes. Because you know a fighter requires miscellaneous other things as well. Like nutrition-wise, to meet those demands, they definitely need to have a certain spending capacity. She’s a bit low on their side (financially). And sometimes it affects their training as well.”
But, it is not all doom and gloom for the athletes from Nagaon. Munim Sattar, a combat sports enthusiast, has opened up an institution by the name of BRUTE Martial Arts, Nagaon, Assam. Spread across an area of 1400 sq ft, Sattar has built an academy with state-of-the-art infrastructure for all combat sports training. It provides free space and training gears for the prospective medal winning athletes and Mr. Boro thanked Mr. Sattar for the kind initiative.
“And at the same time, certain requisite specialties are also required for higher-skilled training. Here I’d like to mention (BRUTE Martial Arts), which has taken up the initiative of providing us whatever they can from their side. Like they have opened up this particular academy exclusively for kickboxing, boxing, and taekwondo. And they also provided us with some equipment with which we are sharpening our skills.”
However, free training facility does not translate to a viable profession. While some athletes get handsomely compensated to follow their passion in India, kickboxing is still not at the level where it can provide its youngsters with a good source of earning their living.
“But yes, at the end of the day, especially my players, my athletes, they require some advanced training as well. And for that, they need to struggle. But those expenses, they have to meet it by their own. That’s why sometimes you know, it becomes a problem as well. Since we are preparing for the upcoming three major events, so definitely she must have gone through some advanced training. But due to the financial scarcities, she is unable to go.”
Nilakhi Saikia needs more help from sponsors to reach her full potential
Jyotirmoy Boro named big cities like Mumbai and Delhi, where there is a vast talent pool. However, most of them do not reach the headline-making spots as they do not get sufficient backing. Nilakhi is one such athlete, with proper backing, who can absolutely reach the pinnacle of the sport and realize her true potential.
“Talent-wise, I don’t have any doubt on her talent. Only thing which I’d like to (highlight), especially through your medium, that is sponsorships. If she gets any kind of sponsors, or if she gets highlighted, it’d be of great help to her and will definitely enable her to sharpen her skills.”
Coach Boro does not think there is any lack of effort from the fighter herself. She is facing a lot of setbacks almost on a daily basis, but Nilakhi is not letting the hurdles stand in her way and she is fully focused on sticking to her training routine.
“So from talent-wise I don’t think she has any deficiencies, or there is no compromise from her hard work. She is not compromising with her practice or whatever hardships she is facing in her life. (Nilakhi Saikia) is definitely facing it like a real fighter, apart from facing her opponents in the ring. But if those issues (lack of sponsorships) are sorted out, I think definitely she will become a much better fighter.”
Nilakhi Saikia has three major upcoming events
Nilakhi Saikia’s journey is certainly an inspiring one. Not only is she fighting a battle where the odds are stacked against her, but she is also doing her best to raise as much awareness for kickboxing as possible. So where can fans witness her next? Coach Boro also provided an answer for that!
“Her upcoming events are in 2023. There is South Asian Championships, which is scheduled to be held in Thailand. That is one event. From there, if she manages to qualify, then her next championship event will be Asian Championship, which will be held in Riyadh. So these are her upcoming amateur games.”
“Apart from upcoming amateur games, she also has one pro game which is scheduled to be held in the month of December in Uzbekistan. That is K-1. So these are the upcoming events. She is definitely preparing herself well. But there are some financial issues. And if we are able to solve those financial issues, then definitely she will be representing India in Uzbekistan next month.”
Nilakhi Saikia wants to represent India in the Olympics
Every athlete has a dream that they are pursuing. So which direction does Nilakhi Saikia see herself heading? Coach Boro revealed that she idolizes Mary Kom, who represented India in the Olympics as a boxer. Mary Kom won a bronze medal for India in the 2012’s London Olympics. So Nilakhi wants to go to the Olympics as a kickboxer.
“Whenever I enquire that, ‘what do you want to be?’ Because you know it’s not about competing without any goals. Definitely, we should have certain goals that we want to achieve. Her first objective is to, amateur-wise, she said that she wants to represent India in Olympics.”
“So, as kickboxing has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee. If, by the grace of god, if she stays fit till then, definitely I’m expecting her to see in the Olympics. And apart from amateur games, she also wants to be a very good professional fighter. That’s why you know, she has taken up K-1. Because in kickboxing, we have seven formats.”
Aside from her dreams to be in the Olympics, Saikia also wants to achieve the pinnacle of kickboxing. She wants to make it to Glory Kickboxing, which produced the current UFC middleweight champ, Alex Pereira. So Nilakhi is not aiming for anything less than the absolute best!
“Amongst all these seven disciplines, K-1 is the toughest. She has chosen K-1 as her desired style of fighting in kickboxing. And which is also like you know one of the most famous kickboxing event worldwide. Like, you know, speaking about Glory kickboxing or K-1 championship which are normally held in Japan.”
“So definitely she wants to be a very good amateur fighter, wants to represent her country internationally. In her amateur kickboxing sport. Also, profession-wise, she wants to represent her country in k-1 kickboxing.”
Jyotirmoy Boro is optimistic about India’s prospects in Kickboxing
Mr. Boro also spoke about the importance of kickboxing as a sport in the world of combat sports. He referenced the recent UFC fight between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira, to show that kickboxing plays a major part in MMA. If one has to be successful in Mixed Martial Arts, one also needs good kickboxing alongside grappling.
However, he also sounded very optimistic about India’s prospects in the sport. Although the country is lagging behind other western nations, Jyotirmoy Boro stated that athletes like Nilakhi Saika are slowly but surely putting India on the map of kickboxing.