Jamshedpur, May 7: The first thing ace pugilist Aruna Mishra did after reaching home yesterday was to savour her favourite sattu-stuffed chhapatis and fresh pickles made by her mother.

Aruna, who returned to the city after winning the gold medal in the World Women’s Boxing Championship held in Tonsberg, Germany, was all smiles at her reunion with her family.

“I gorged on my favourite sattu-roti and home-made pickles. My mother is an excellent cook. Her pickles and jackfruit curry is famous,” said Aruna.

While sisters Taruna and Reena, hovered around their star sister and the medallion, mother Urmila was busy dusting her daughter’s trophies.

“Aruna’s winning the gold is as good as my winning it. After all, it was I who forced her to wear the boxing gloves. I will keep the medal for some days before giving it to her,” said Taruna, the youngest among the sisters.

The Mishra’s are a close knit family of three sisters, two brothers and mother. Aruna’s father, K.K. Mishra, who passed away in 2001, was also a state-level athlete.

In fact, love for sports run in the Mishra family.

Reena, a police sub-inspector, has claimed gold medals in hammer and shot in the junior national meet.

Taruna won medals in the national level as an emerging pugilist. Brothers Ritesh and Nitesh were also boxers whjo gave up their “passion” midway.

However, in a third world country like India, it is not easy to make a profession out of sports. The Mishras, too, had to struggle.

“We have faced lot of problems for pursuing sports. Our relatives and the society as a whole always discouraged us. The criticism was such that our father never had the courage to take us to our ancestral home in Darbhanga. We come from a very conservative family where girls are not allowed to pursue a career in sports,” said Reena. They also pressurised our father to keep us away from sports, said Reena.

“However, our parents always supported us in our endeavours and we owe our success to them,” Reena, who is married to Bihar Handball Association secretary Vijaykant Jha, recollected.

Taruna, who won a bronze in the Punjab National Games in 2001 and a couple of medals in senior nationals, said, “ We had a modest upbringing. We never wore fashionable clothes. Most of the time, Aruna and I wear casual clothes like tracksuits, jeans and T-shirts. In fact, boys pass snide comments if we wear salwar suits.”

Once when some college students, who passed remarks, received a sound thrashing by the sisters.

“It has not been easy for us. But, being sports persons we never shied away from challenges in real life. In spite of facing economic crisis after our father’s death, we did not lose heart and worked hard to reach our goals,” said Aruna.