Maybe, it’s all in the genes. Nupur Singh Sheoran and Jaismine Lamboriya carried the family’s illustrious boxing tradition forward when they assured India of a medal apiece at the World Boxing Championship in Liverpool on Wednesday.Nupur defeated Uzbekistan’s Oltinoy Sotimboeva by a 4:1 verdict in the 80+kg category to ensure that she will come back to India with at least a bronze medal. Hours later, Jaismine beat another Uzbek, Khumorabonu Mamajonova, 5:0 to also secure a place on the podium, in the 57kg weight class.The two hail from the extended family of two-time Asian Games heavyweight champion Hawa Singh Sheoran. Nupur, 26, is his grand-daughter, and her father Sanjay Singh Sheoran runs a boxing academy in Bhiwani. Jaismine’s paternal grandmother was Hawa Singh’s niece.Hawa Singh, who passed away in 2000, would call Nupur ‘Nonu, and when she won on Wednesday, Sanjay was reminded of the days his father would carry Nupur in his hands and call her the family’s lucky charm. “Nupur was one-and-a-half years old when my father died. With Nupur and Jaismine assuring themselves of World Championship medals today, I am sure my father would be cheering from the heavens. He would have been the first one to welcome the girls at Bhiwani if he was alive today and celebrate the feat even more than his Asian Games titles,” Sanjay tells The Indian Express from Bhiwani.During his playing days, Hawa Singh would compete in the 80+Kg class, the heaviest category at that time, and won the titles at the 1966 and 1970 Asian Games. He received the Dronacharya award before his demise in 2000.It was in 2015 that Sanjay introduced Nupur to boxing. Titles came at various levels before the youngster moved to the 75kg division, a category in which she competed at the Asian Championships in 2019 and gave trials for the Tokyo Olympics. It was after recovering from a broken foot in 2023 that Nupur shifted to the 80+kg class, the highest in women’s events where India has only won two Worlds medals. At the 2023 Worlds, Nupur suffered a 3: 4 loss in a revised decision against eventual silver medallist and 2016 world champion Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan. Earlier this year, she beat Seyma Dustaz of Turkey and Kazakh Yeldana Talipova with a 5-0 verdict in the Boxing World Cup in Kazakhstan. The five-time national champion had received a bye this week before facing Sotimboeva in the quarters. With the Uzbek fighting from close quarters, Nupur won the first round 4:1 before the judges gave the second to her opponent 3:2. The third round saw Nupur landing some counter- punches with the judges scoring the round 4: 1 in the Indian’s favour. “Nupur does not have sparring partners of her height. So sometimes she can face problems against taller opponents like the Uzbek when they come close initially. But she used counter-punches effectively,” says her father.Growing up not far from the Sheoran household, Jaismine would hear about Hawa Singh’s feats from her uncles Sandeep and Parvinder. She would initially be interested in dancing as well as volleyball and computers. But it was on the insistence of Parminder – a former national champion middleweight boxer who represented India at the 2006 Commonwealth Games – and Sandeep – a two-time national champion and Youth CWG participant, that Jaismine would try her hand at boxing. “Before Jasmine was born, her father Jaiveer had been injured in a car accident. When she was born, our father Chandrabhan saw it as a good omen that saved Jaiveer’s life,” Sandeep, who now runs a boxing academy in Bhiwani, recalls. “While our father was initially reluctant to allow Jaismine to get into boxing, he later changed his mind. As a child, when Jaismine would visit Hawa Singh ji’s home, she would see his medals and photographs and ask about him. With a medal assured at the Worlds, she now has her own medal to show.”Story continues below this adInitially a 57 Kg boxer, in which she won an Asian Youth bronze and Boxam International bronze in 2021 and reached the quarter-finals at the 2021 Worlds, Jaismine would later shift to the 60kg and win a bronze at the 2022 CWG.It was in 2024, that Jaismine, who also reached the Worlds quarters in 2023, would be named as the replacement for Asian Games bronze medallist Parveen Hooda, who had been suspended, in 57 Kg for the Olympic qualifiers. She won the quota spot for India with a title but in Paris, would suffer a first- round loss against Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Nesthy Petecio of Philippines. Talking about his niece, now a naib subedar in the Indian Army, Sandeep says, “Jaismine is among the tallest boxers in the 57 Kg category. Sometimes, she faces problems against short boxers which was the case against Petecio, who fought from close range. So the talk after Paris was to maintain a distance and make sure to utilise straight punches to the fullest.”In Liverpool, the 24-year-old Jaismine scored a 5:0 win over Hutarina Daria-Olha of Ukraine before beating Pan-American Games champion Jucielen Cerqueira Romeu of Brazil in the pre-quarters by the same margin to set up the quarter-final against Asian Under-22 champion Mamajonova, whom she dominated throughout the bout.“Jaismine is one of the tallest boxers in the 57kg category and understands the utilisation of a long range. Earlier, she used to depend on counter-attacks but now we have worked on her first attacks too in training and in the camp. And once she attacks, she can move freely and control the bout with combinations of punches,” shared national coach D Chandralal.