Born on 29th October 1985 at Kaluwas village in Bhiwani, Haryana, Vijender Singh was inspired to take to Boxing by younger brother Manoj, a boxer himself. Vijender’s early days were spent in his village from where he did his schooling before moving to Bhiwani to get a bachelor’s degree.
Vijender practiced Boxing at the Bhiwani Sports Authority of India where coach Jagdish Singh recognised his talent and encouraged him to take to professional boxing. Vijender went on to compete at the sub-junior nationals where he won a silver medal for two years in succession.
Having won medals in different competitions at the national level, Vijender was picked up to go train and compete at several international level competitions.
Vijender had a dream start to his campaign at the Beijing Olympics, decimating Badou Jack of Gambia 13-2 in the first round. He then went on to beat Angkhan Chomphuphuang of Thailand 13-3 to make it to the quarter-finals.
He continued his dream run in the quarter finals as well when he beat Carlos Gongara to storm into the semis. He is assured of at least a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.
At the Athens Olympics in 2004, Vijender competed in the welterweight division but went down to Turkey’s Mustafa Karagollu in a hard fought battle.
Vijender came back strongly at the 2006 Commonwealth Games but failed to make a mark.
Vijender then went up a division to compete in the middleweight category and won a bronze at the Asian Games in 2006.
