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Boxing in India
Four men standing. Middle of them is a young Indian male who wears a shiny orange dressing gown with blue border. His hands are behind his head. The other three men are all dressed in black and appear to be waiting around the man.
Vijender Singh
CountryIndia
Governing bodyBoxing Federation of India
National team(s)India

In India, the sport of boxing is governed by the Boxing Federation of India. The majority of boxing in India occurs nationally and internationally as amateur boxing, with only a few boxers opting to pursue professional boxing. This has been attributed to a lack of promotional companies, facilities, and revenue. However, India is a regular medal-holder at international tournaments including the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, and Olympics. Boxing has been rising in popularity in certain states, particularly in Haryana. The Bhiwani Boxing Club in Bhiwani, Haryana has produced medalists in various weight classes.[1][2]

Notable boxers and boxing victories

India's Mary Kom is a six-time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships.[3] She also became the first Indian woman boxer to get a Gold Medal at the Asian Games during the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon, South Korea.[4]

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Vijender Singh won a bronze medal in the middleweight boxing category, while Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar qualified for the quarterfinals. Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar, A.L. Lakra, and Dinesh Kumar each won a bronze medal at the 2008 World Championship.[5]

Vijender Singh briefly reached World No.1 in the middle weight (75 kg) category class in 2009, when the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) list was updated after 2009 AIBA World Boxing Championships held in Milan, where he won India's first medal in an AIBA-WBC.[6] On 29 June 2015, Vijender Singh bid adieu to his amateur career by turning professional as he signed a multi-year agreement with Queensberry Promotions through IOS Sports and Entertainment. This ruled him out of 2016 Olympics as he no longer remained eligible to represent India.

Total medals won by Indian Boxers in Major tournaments

Competition Gold Silver Bronze Total
Olympic Games 0 0 3 3
World Boxing Championships 14 9 31 54
Asian Games 9 17 36 62
Commonwealth Games 11 13 20 44
Asian Championships 30 46 68 144
Total 64 84 154 302

Notable Performance at Summer Olympics

Year Event Player Result
2000
Light heavyweight Gurcharan Singh Quarter-finals
2008
Middleweight Vijender Singh 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Flyweight Jitender Kumar Quarter-finals
Bantamweight Akhil Kumar Quarter-finals
2012
Women's flyweight Mary Kom 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Men's light flyweight Devendro Singh Quarter-finals
Men's middleweight Vijender Singh Quarter-finals
2016
Men's middleweight Vikas Krishan Yadav Quarter-finals
2020
Women's welterweight Lovlina Borgohain 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Women's middleweight Pooja Rani Quarter-finals
Men's super heavyweight Satish Kumar Quarter-finals

In popular culture

In 2014, Priyanka Chopra portrayed Mary Kom in an award winning biographical film about her life.[7]

References

  1. ^ Raja, Abhijit. "Boxing: The Rise of 'Little Cuba' in Bhiwani, India". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  2. ^ M, Hari Kishore (2021-06-02). "Boxing from Bhiwani, India's "mini-Cuba"". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  3. ^ "Magnificent Mary". I See India. Archived from the original on 2012-05-22. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  4. ^ "MC Mary Kom delivers first boxing gold at Asian Games 2014". Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  5. ^ "2008 Summer Olympics Boxing Results - Beijing, China - ESPN". sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  6. ^ "Vijender becomes world number one - The Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  7. ^ "MARY KOM | British Board of Film Classification". www.bbfc.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
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