Internationally acclaimed pugilist Aruna Mishra, who missed a berth in the South Asian Games-2016 during a selection trail in Shillong last week, attributes the loss to her work pressure as an inspector in Jharkhand police.

Mishra was scheduled to meet director-general of police D.K. Pandey in Ranchi on Thursday, to voice her grievances but couldn't do so as he had left for Palamau.

"I will meet him next week to discuss about my problems. If the police department wants me to win gold medals, then it has to provide me enough time to prepare for the games," she told The Telegraph.

"I was assigned VVIP duty during President Pranab Mukherjee's recent visit to Ranchi. I was also assigned duty during panchayat election at a remote and unsafe village in Gumla, where I faced a lot of problems. It is affecting my progress and I'm being harassed by the department. I am a sportsperson and need adequate training to keep myself fit," she added.

But doubts regarding age hampering Mishra's performance are doing the rounds in the Jamshedpur's boxing fraternity.

The 36-year-old lost the 75kg category bout for the selection trail of South Asian Games to Puja Rani of Haryana, a major setback in Mishra's over two decades-long career.

But in a power sport like boxing stamina, endurance and reflexes count and her age may have been acting as a barrier in the ring.

Is a single setback enough to indicate that her career is on the wane?

Ernest Lakra, who has mentored the pugilist from her formative years, agreed that age was directly related to performance.

"I am not taking her loss in Shillong very seriously but she is aging. Stamina and reflexes get affected with age. She also has to look after her family," Lakra said.

A veteran pugilist pointed out that continuing with the demanding sport of boxing for two decades wasn't easy. "Aruna has proved her prowess by consistently bagging gold medals. But age always has the last laugh. I don't think she'll be able to sustain the load for too long," said the veteran.

But Aruna rubbished the age theory.

"I don't think age has anything to do with my defeat at the selection trials. Workload and lack of adequate preparation affected my performance. My opponent, Puja Rani, was afraid of me when she entered the ring. But I did not feel like competing as I was not well-prepared. But I promise to floor Puja next time when we meet," she said.

A former gold medallist who more often floors her opponents with sheer power of her punch, Aruna also trains budding boxers at Birsa Training Centre run by her in Jamshedpur.