Early career
Vijender boxed recreationally in his childhood and used to go to the Bhiwani Sports Authority of India center for boxing practice, where coachJagdish Singh picked his talent. Vijender belongs to the Bishnoi (Jat) family. Vijender won a silver medal in his first sub-junior nationals and then finished the 2nd sub-junior in the same position. Vijender won medals in junior national competitions after that and he was picked to visit several countries like Cuba for further training and competitions.
Athens Olympics 2004
At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Vijender contested in the welterweight division, but lost to Mustafa Karagollu of Turkey by 20-25.
Commonwealth Games 2006
At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, he defeated England's Neil Perkins in the semis but lost to South Africa's Bongani Mwelase, who went on to win the gold.
He went up a division and competed in the Middleweight (-75 kg) division at the 2006 Asian Games winning the bronze medal in a lost semifinal bout against Kazakhstan's Bakhtiyar Artayev 24-29. [1]
At the second qualifier he won the tournament and qualified for 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Beijing Olympics 2008
Vijender had a great start at the 2008 Summer Olympics defeating Badou Jack of Gambia 13-2 in the round of 32. In the round of 16, he defeated Angkhan Chomphuphuang of Thailand 13-3 to reach the Middleweight Boxing Quarterfinals. He beat southpaw Carlos G'ngora of Ecuador 9-4 in the quarterfinals on August 20, 2008 which guaranteed him a medal, the first ever Olympic medal for an Indian boxer. He lost 5-8 to Cuba's Emilio Correa in the semi-finals on 22nd August 2008 and shared a bronze medal.[2]
Bout results:
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Defeated Badou Jack (Gambia) 13-2
Defeated Angkhan Chomphuphuang (Thailand) 13-3
Defeated Carlos G'ngora (Ecuador) 9-4
- Lost to Emilio Correa Jr. (Cuba) 5-8
Personal life
Vijender was born in Kaluwas village, 5 km from Bhiwani, Haryana. His father, Mahipal Singh, is a bus driver (who drove buses overtime to raise funds for Vijender's training [3]) and his mother is a homemaker. He was inspired by his younger brother Manoj, a former boxer himself, who is now in the Indian Army. Vijender did his primary schooling from Kaluwas, secondary school from Bhiwani and finally a bachelor's degree from Vaish College. He worked overtime to pay for coaching at the Bhiwani Boxing Club. After achieving success at the international level he also did modeling part-time. Vijender currently works for the Haryana Police.[4]
Vijender's hometown of Kaluwas erupted with celebrations on 20th August after Vijender was assured of an Olympic medal. His hometown watched the bouts on a single television set in a specially rigged tent for the event. [5]
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