Between life and death: The embalmer fighting for boxing glory

Danisha Mathialagan is not your average 27-year-old Singaporean Indian woman. If she could describe herself in one word, it would be "morbid," because she works as an embalmer by day and trains as a Team Singapore boxer by night.

She has represented Singapore in more than 20 amateur-level fights on the international stage.

In 2023, she made history by becoming the first Singaporean boxer since 1976, regardless of gender, to qualify for the Asian Games.

Her Asiad debut in China ended in a last-16 exit, but being the first Singaporean female boxer to compete in the Asian Games was a remarkable feat in itself.

To support herself financially, Danisha works as an embalmer, preserving and preparing bodies for funerals at not one, but three different funeral homes.

And to fully dedicate herself to boxing, she broke a four-year bond of around $130,000 with a local hospital, where she was due to start work as a radiographer last year.

Dealing with dead bodies almost on a daily basis has given her a sharp perspective on life.

"My colleague recently embalmed a 19-year-old boy who died of colon cancer and it struck me that life is unpredictable and that you have to seize every opportunity and go for it, even if you are not ready," she said.

Interestingly, her parents are more comfortable with her being an embalmer than a boxer.

While they do worry about her ability to repay the bond fee on an embalmer's salary, they have no objections to the grim nature of the work.

As a child, Danisha's mother, a nurse at the Singapore National Eye Centre, would often pass by the mortuary on the way to work and tell the young Danisha about it.

"I found it really interesting and kept wanting to know what happens inside a mortuary," she said.

After completing her diploma in biomedical science at Temasek Polytechnic - a course she studied because her parents wanted her to become a doctor - she took a gap year and worked as a Forensic Technical Officer at the Health Sciences Authority's mortuary.

Danisha assisted the pathologist with autopsies, which involved the dissection of organs and tissues, as well as radiography to scan the deceased and help determine the cause of death.

"I truly enjoyed my work, so I stayed for three years. I left when I started my degree in diagnostic radiography at the Singapore Institute of Technology," she said.

She now rotates between three funeral homes working from 11am to 5pm, except when there are no cases. Each case typically takes her an hour, allowing her to prepare up to six bodies in a workday. She has embalmed over 500 bodies to date.

When asked how she feels about handling dead bodies, she said: "I don't get emotionally attached since I don't know them. But there was one case - an Indian boy had shot himself. When I released his body to the parents and they started playing Hindu devotional songs, it was one of the few times I got emotional."

Otherwise, Danisha considers herself a logical and practical person and prefers not to dwell on issues. This hard-headed approach helped her pursue boxing without her parents' knowledge.

She turned to boxing at 17 to get over her disappointment of being only a reserve player in her polytechnic netball team. She had wanted to try out a contact sport and settled on boxing, as opposed to rugby or muay thai, because it uses mostly the upper body.

She googled "boxing gyms" and chose the first one that came up - Legends Fight Sport. However, because she was under 18, she needed her parents' consent to sign up. After a lot of convincing, her mother finally agreed but on one condition: no physical contact.

"Don't hit anybody and nobody should hit you. You can only hit the punching bag," her mother insisted.

The tenacious teen travelled to Clarke Quay almost daily for her hourly boxing training starting at 6.30am, before heading to Temasek Polytechnic for a full day of classes.

After a year, her coach encouraged her to compete in local tournaments and she began winning matches, but kept it a secret from her parents, knowing they would disapprove.

Each time Danisha won a boxing competition, like the one organised by SAFRA Tampines in 2015, she would wait until her family was sound asleep before sneaking home, clutching her trophy which she would duly hide under a pile of clothes in her cupboard.

This went on for four years.

Danisha's secret victories mirrored scenes from the Tamil blockbuster Ghilli, where actor Vijay plays an aspiring kabaddi player who defies his disapproving father and sneaks home after matches.

When asked if Ghilli had inspired her, Danisha chuckled and replied: "Yes! I love that movie, but unfortunately, I can't enter my house from the rooftop like Vijay's character does."

In 2017, she was selected for the national team, and two years later represented Singapore at the 30th SEA Games in the Philippines.

That same year, her hidden trophies came to light when her parents discovered her boxing pursuits on social media sparked by media coverage of her SEA Games debut.

They were not upset with her but expressed worry about her physical safety.

Her mother remarked lightheartedly: "What if you get hit in the face? Who's going to marry you after that?"

Fortunately, Danisha had only one serious injury in 11 years of boxing, when she fractured her left foot and tore a ligament after a sudden sharp movement during the 2023 Queen of the Ring competition in Australia. Despite the injury, she managed to win.

These days, Danisha no longer has to sneak home and can proudly display her medals and trophies.

She has even won over her parents - her mother prepares special meals for her in keeping with her diet plan.

Her father watches her bouts if they are streamed online sometimes, but not her mother. "She can't bear to see her child get hurt," said Danisha.

Danisha became the first Singaporean to win a medal at the World Boxing Cup when she won a silver medal in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia last year.

She is currently the national champion in the women's 48kg category and will attend a training camp in Japan to boost her chances of qualifying for December's SEA Games in Thailand.

Danisha's coach, three-time SEA Games bronze medallist Muhamad Ridhwan, confirmed that their goal for 2025 is to refine her technical skills, enhance her strategic approach and ensure she is in peak condition to compete at the highest level.

"Balancing a demanding profession as an embalmer while training as a national boxer is no easy feat, but she approaches both with remarkable discipline and resilience, never making excuses or looking for shortcuts. Her ability to compartmentalise and give one hundred percent to her training speaks volumes about her mental toughness and dedication to the sport," he said.

Given all she has accomplished, Danisha is proof that the road less travelled can often lead to extraordinary journeys.