The Bhiwani Boxing Club in Bhiwani in the state of Haryana, India came to the limelight in 1982 as four of the five boxers who represented India at the 2000 Summer Olympics are from Bhiwani. The Sports Authority of India coach and boxer Jagdish Singh has been credited with making the Bhiwani Boxing Club, or "BBC" as it is known locally, a powerhouse of Indian Boxing.
Among the 2008 Olympians, Jitender Kumar (Flyweight) (51 kg) and Akhil Kumar (54 kg) went on to qualify for the quarter finals, while Vijender Singh (75 kg) won a Bronze medal. Kavita Chahal won 9 national championships, 2 bronze medals at the World Championships, and 3 medals at the Asian Championships. Bhiwani is known as Little Cuba in India due to the multitude of boxers hailing from the region. [1]
Bhiwani district is one of the 22 districts of the northern Indian state of Haryana. Created on 22 December 1972, the district was the largest district of the state by area, before the creation of Charkhi Dadri as a separate district, as it occupied an area of 4,778 square kilometres (1,845 sq mi) and administered 442 villages with a population of 1,634,445. Sirsa is now the largest district of the state.
Bhiwani is a city and a municipal council in Bhiwani district in the state of Haryana, Bhiwani was also known as "Gate of Rajputana". Besides being a seat of spiritual learning, the city is at the centre of regional politics and hometown of three former Haryana chief ministers: Bansi Lal, Banarsi Das Gupta and Hukum Singh. It is located 128 km west of national capital New Delhi.
Akhil Kumar is an Indian boxer who has won several international and national boxing awards. He practices an "open guarded" boxing style. In 2005, the Indian government gave him the Arjuna Award for his achievements in international boxing. In March 2017, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, appointed Akhil Kumar along with Mary Kom as national observers for boxing.
Vijender Singh Beniwal is an Indian professional boxer and politician. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, becoming the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal. He also won bronze medals at the 2009 World Championships and the 2010 Commonwealth Games, as well as silver medals at the 2006 and 2014 Commonwealth Games, all in the middleweight division.
Abbos Abdurazzoqovich Atoyev is an Uzbek amateur boxer, best known for winning gold in the light heavyweight competition at the 2007 World Championships and at middleweight in 2009. He also won a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He fights southpaw and was born in the village of Qulkhatib of Vabkent District of Bukhara Province.
Jitender Kumar is an Indian flyweight boxer. He won the bronze medal in the flyweight category at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He represented India at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Jagdish Singh is an Indian boxer and a boxing coach from Bhiwani district of the Indian state of Haryana. He founded the Bhiwani Boxing Club (BBC) in 2003, which produced four members of the five member boxing team in Beijing Olympics 2008, including the bronze medal winner, Vijender Singh. His five students received Arjun Award. Such as Akhil Kumar 2005, Vijender Singh 2006, Dinesh Kumar 2010, Vikas Krishan Yadav 2012, Kavita Chahal 2013.
Honorary Captain Hawa Singh was an Indian Heavyweight boxer, who dominated Indian and Asian amateur boxing for a decade in his weight class. He won the Asian Games gold medal in the Heavyweight category in consecutive editions of the games, in the 1966 Asiad and the 1970 Asiad both held in Bangkok, Thailand - a feat unmatched by any Indian boxer to date. He won the National Championships in the Heavyweight category a record 11 consecutive times — from 1961 to 1972.
Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom is an Indian amateur boxer, politician, and former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. She is the only woman to win the World Amateur Boxing Championship six times, the only female boxer to have won a medal in each one of the first seven World Championships, and the only boxer to win eight World Championship medals. Nicknamed Magnificent Mary, she was the only Indian female boxer to have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she competed in the flyweight (51 kg) category and won a bronze medal. She had also been ranked as the world's No. 1 female light-flyweight by the International Boxing Association (amateur) (AIBA). She became the first Indian female boxer to win a gold medal in the Asian Games in 2014 at Incheon, South Korea and is the first Indian female boxer to win gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She is also the only boxer to become Asian Amateur Boxing Champion for a record six times. Mary Kom won the 51kg gold in President's Cup in Indonesia.
Thokchom Nanao Singh is an Indian boxer from Khoijuman Maning Leikai village in Bishnupur district of Manipur. He trains at Pune-based Army Sports Institute and is supported by Olympic Gold Quest, a not-for-profit foundation to identify and support Indian athletes.
Vikas Krishan Yadav is an Indian boxer from Bhiwani district in Haryana, the hub of some of India's best boxers. He won a gold medal in the 2010 Asian Games in the Lightweight category and a gold medal in 75 kg weight category at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He is one of the best boxers of India. He also played professional boxing.
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.
Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu, also spelled as Gurbax/Gurbux Singh Sandhu, was the national boxing coach of India. He started coaching the India National Team from the year 1993. He was influential in bringing a medal to India in 2008 Summer Olympics, when Vijender Singh of India won bronze, which was the first ever medal for India in Boxing at Olympics. He has also helped Indian boxers in their performances in World Championship. He stopped coaching boxing of India until July 2013.
Pooja Rani Bohra is an Indian middleweight boxer. She is two time Asian champion (2019,2021) She won the bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games in the 75 kg category. She won the gold medal in South Asian Games 2016. She also won Silver (2012) and Bronze (2015) in Asian Championship 75 kg weight categories. She represented India at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 in the 75 kg category. In 2016, she failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics when she lost at the second round of the Women's World Boxing Championships in May 2016,She is 7 time National champion also In 2020 She become first Indian to qualify for 2020 Summer Olympics.
Kavita Chahal is a 5' 9" tall heavyweight Indian female boxer and recipient of the highest world ranking 2 from 2012 to 2014 from the village Nimri which resides in the Bhiwani district, Haryana. In recognition of her achievements, the Government of India presented Chahal with the Arjuna Award in 2013. Chahal is the first female boxer from Haryana to be presented with the Arjuna Award. Chahal is a twice-consecutive World Championship medallist, 3 Time Gold medalist in World Police Games. 4-Time Asian championship, Asian cup medallist. With 9 gold medals, she is a record holder in women's national championship boxing. She is a 5-time gold medallist in the Federation Cup, and 7-times Gold medalist in all india police games 2012 to 2018. Chahal 3-time gold medallist in the Inter-zonal Super Cup championship.
Subedar Manish Kaushik is an Indian boxer who completes in the lightweight division. He is employed with Indian Army as a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO). Kaushik won the gold medal at the Doha International Boxing Tournament, in his first international appearance. Two years later, Manish won gold at the 2017 National Boxing Games. Manish Kaushik later went to represent India in 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning the silver medal. He represented India in the lightweight division in the 2020 Summer Olympics. Manish hails from the village of Devsar in the Bhiwani district of Haryana. Manish Kaushik won abronze in the 63 kg category at World Championships.
Subedar Amit Panghal Vishisht Seva Medal is an Indian Army Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and an amateur boxer. He won silver medal at the 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships in the Flyweight division. Panghal won a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. Amit Panghal has received top seeding in the 52 kg category. Amit Panghal is the reigning Asian Games champion and a world championships silver-medalist Asian Elite Boxing Championships Panghal failed to defend his gold medal, that he won in 2019, against reigning Olympic and world champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan to finish second-best in Dubai.
Sonia Chahal is an Indian amateur boxer. She is a silver medallist at the 2018 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships.
Sachin Siwach is an Indian boxer from Bhiwani. He became the third Indian to win gold at the World Youth Championship.
Nitu Ghanghas is an Indian boxer who is 2023 world champion in minimumweight category and a two-time world youth champion in light flyweight. She won the gold medal at the 2023 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games in the minimumweight category.