From the memorable medal-winning triumph of Vijender Singh in the 2008 Beijing Olympics to the Mary Kom’s record of being the first Indian Woman Boxer to ever win an Olympic medal in the history. Post-2000 era has given the nation two boxing Champions who have represented and made the entire nation proud. The Indian Boxing caravan trained at Patiala before traveling to Beijing for the global mega event. Vijender Singh was accompanied by his fellow pugilists Antharish Lakra, Dinesh Kumar, Akhil Kumar, and Jitender Kumar.
All of the boxers had a dismal outing except Vijender Singh who was able to make it into the semi-finals after defeating the likes of big guns such as Angkhan Chomphuphuang of Thailand and Carlos Góngora of Ecuador. He had already assured himself a medal by reaching the semi-finals of the event. That was perhaps one of the most joyful moments for the whole country. Although he finished his stint with a bronze medal, however that accomplishment was enough to describe India’s intent in Boxing at the Olympic Games.
The 2012 London Olympics saw India producing yet another Boxing Champion in the form of MC Mary Kom who at that time became paramount in the World of boxing. With the Women’s boxing event being introduced at the Olympics for the very very time in history, MC Mary Kom was selected from India. Mary Kom who had participated at the 2012 AIBA Women’s Boxing Championship had already been contesting for her place in India’s Women’s Combat sports team. She advanced into the finals of the 51kg category event and ended her stint with a bronze medal.
How has Indian Boxing evolved in the Summer Olympics?
India has achieved massive success at various boxing events across the world. From winning medals at the Commonwealth Games to winning medals at the Asian Games and AIBA Boxing Championships. India has not been able to keep up with its momentum at the Summer Games. Boxing as a sport was added to the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1904. But the surprising fact that emerges here is that until 1984 India had not contested any pugilist at the Summer Olympic Games.
It was in the year 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles that the likes of Kaur Singh and Rajendra Prasad emerged as one of the dominant names in the history of Indian boxing. Kaur Singh made his mark as he won Gold medals at the Asian Boxing Championship and Asian Games in 1980 & 1982 respectively. He went on to represent India at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics but failed to win any medal at that time.
In 1992 Summer Olympics, Rajendra Prasad had a chance to represent India. He lost to bronze medalist Roel Velasco of the Philippines in the second round. He too returned medal-less after that year’s Olympics.
But the post-2000 era gave India the hope that Indian youngsters are immensely talented and have the caliber to do something big at the world stage. And now we already have two medal winners in the form of Vijender Singh (Bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics) and MC Mary Kom (Bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics).
Favorable outcomes for India in other Boxing tournaments
As far as other tournaments are concerned, the Indian contingent has had a far better performance if compared to their run at the Summer Olympics. Their best run being the Asian Games where India boasts off 9 Gold medals, 16 silver medals and 32 bronze medals- the most by the Indian contingent in the boxing events.
The second-best performance of the country comes from the Commonwealth Games where India has won 8 Gold medals, 12 silver medals, and 17 bronze medals.
India has also performed well at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships and the major number of medals have come from the veteran MC Mary Kom.
Mary Kom has a record of 6 gold medals and a silver medal at the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. With her career almost coming to an end, she has also announced that she would retire after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The Incipient Group of Youngsters- Country’s Boxing future
The historical and inspiring performances from MC Mary Kom & Vijender Kumar has triggered many youngsters across the country to take up boxing as their career. India is seeing many talented youngsters taking up boxing as a sport. Pooja Rani, Shiva Thapa, Nikhat Zareen have been very competent at young ages. In fact, Indian pugilists are expected to have a remarkable run at the next year’s Tokyo Summer Olympics. Although India had a forgettable run in the 2016 Rio Olympics where Indian boxers failed to capitalize on the occasions. Vikas Krishnan Yadav who was the ray of hope for the Indian boxing contingent was also eliminated in the quarter-finals.
But since then, authorities have emphasized on focussing more on Boxing. Experts even feel that the Indian boxers are heading in the right direction and would be doing something big at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. India won 13 medals for boxing at the 2019 Asian Championships and their progress led them to perform luminously in the recently concluded Umakhanov Memorial tournament. Youngsters Neeraj and Lovlina Borgohain won the gold at the tournament.
