New Delhi: For Parveen Hooda, the street again to the ring was far lonelier than any bout she has ever fought. The younger boxer had spent almost two years on the surface — suspended after three whereabouts failures, grappling with the stigma, the self-doubt and the sluggish grind of proving she hadn’t given up on herself or her sport. On Thursday in Better Noida, she lastly stepped again into the sunshine. With a gritty 3-2 cut up verdict over Japan’s Ayaka Taguchi, Parveen claimed the 60kg gold on the World Boxing Cup Finals, turning a interval outlined by silence and uncertainty into a press release of revival. “This gold means every thing,” Parveen advised TOI throughout an interplay. “For me, it’s not nearly profitable a event, it’s about proving to myself that I might come again after every thing I went by means of. I wished to point out that I by no means stopped combating, even once I wasn’t contained in the ring.”The 25-year-old from Rurki village in Rohtak, Haryana, who had as soon as proudly clinched bronze on the 2023 Asian Video games in Hangzhou, discovered herself stripped of each her Asiad medal and the ensuing 2024 Paris Olympics quota spot. Her world collapsed when the Worldwide Testing Company (ITA) introduced in Might 2024 that she had dedicated three whereabouts failures between April 2022 and March 2023 — a violation beneath WADA’s (World Anti-Doping Company) anti-doping guidelines. Her punishment: a 22-month suspension, later backdated to 14 months. Her loss: an Olympic dream she had fought to earn. “It broke me at first,” she stated. “I received’t lie about that. When the ban was introduced, I stored considering — how did I let one thing like this occur? It felt like every thing I had labored for was slipping away. For months, I struggled with guilt and frustration.” “It was my duty, and I ought to have managed it higher,” she stated. “I used to be travelling rather a lot for coaching, shifting bases, coping with accidents… and someplace the paperwork slipped. However in sport, there are not any excuses. It taught me a harsh lesson,” she added. Lower off from competitors and staff environments, she retreated into what she calls “a tunnel of introspection”. The silence was deafening however ultimately therapeutic. “There have been days I didn’t really feel like coaching in any respect,” Parveen recalled. “However then I reminded myself — this isn’t how my story ends. I advised myself that once I return, I’ve to return stronger, mentally and bodily.” She turned the compelled break right into a interval of rebuilding. Coaching turned easier, extra disciplined. She labored on energy, mobility and endurance — issues that didn’t want tournaments or camps. Extra importantly, she labored on her mindset. “I stored telling myself that I nonetheless belonged on the prime,” she stated. “Each session was like a message to myself that I wasn’t executed.” Her comeback in Better Noida, the primary worldwide occasion she entered for the reason that 2023 Asian Video games, was the end result of that silent grind. Her path to the gold wasn’t straightforward both. Within the semis, she beat Poland’s Aneta Rygielska, the 2025 World Championships silver-medallist, in what was arguably her sharpest efficiency of the week. “Simply stepping again into a world area felt emotional. I felt like I used to be house once more,” Parveen stated. “This medal is particular as a result of it represents every thing I survived. The strain, the doubt, the lengthy months of not understanding once I would return.” And the return really has been emphatic.