Gaurav Solanki

Gaurav Solanki is an Indian boxer born on 21st January 1997. He hails from Ballabgarh tehsil of Haryana’s Faridabad district. He represents India internationally in the 52kg Flyweight category.

Background

Gaurav Solanki was born to Vijaypal Solanki and Meena Solanki. He belongs to a humble family residing in Ballabgarh village, where his father runs an electric shop and his mother is a housewife. He has an elder sister and a younger brother. His elder sister, Neelam Solanki, was the national boxing champion, while his younger brother, Sourav, is an aspiring boxer.

Gaurav picked up an interest in boxing when his school introduced boxing as part of sports activities. Initially, he tried his hands on boxing for fun, soon he liked the sport and decided to pursue it seriously. He joined the local boxing academy to get proper training.

During the initial days of his training, Gaurav’s family had gone through financial troubles. His family couldn’t afford to provide him good food and diet. By the age of 14, his father, Vijaypal, supported his boxing dream after he saw his zeal towards the sport and sold his 50-yard land to help Gaurav financially.

Rise to Glory

After performing well at the state competitions, Gaurav advanced to Junior nationals. He won his first national Gold medal in 2009 at the Sub-Junior National Boxing Championships in Maharashtra. In 2011, he won his 2nd Sub-Junior National Gold medal in Shillong, Meghalaya.

In 2012, Gaurav won the Silver medal at the Sub-Junior National Boxing Championships in Akola, Maharashtra. The following year, he clinched the Gold medal at the Inaugural Nalanda Cup All India Sub-Junior Cadet in Haryana.

In 2018, he won the Bronze medal at the Indian Open International Boxing Championship in New Delhi, followed by a Silver medal at the Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament in Bulgaria and a Gold medal at the Chemistry Cup in Halle, Germany.

In 2019, Gaurav clinched the Gold medal at the India Open Boxing in Guwahati, Assam. That year, he won another Gold medal at the 36th Feliks Stamm International.

Major Achievements

Gaurav received his first international career breakthrough in 2014 when he won his first international Gold medal in the 52kg Flyweight category at the Asian Youth Boxing Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. That year, in April, he competed at the World Youth Championships and reached the quarterfinals of the 52kg Flyweight category. Later in August, he took part in the Youth Olympics but ended his campaign without a medal after losing to Great Britain’s Muhammad Ali in the bronze medal bout.

In 2015, he won the Silver medal in the 52kg Flyweight category at the Commonwealth Youth Boxing Championships at Apia in Samoa.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, he bagged the Gold medal in the 52kg Flyweight category by defeating Northern Ireland’s Brendan Irvine. That year, at the Jakarta Asian Games, he was knocked out from the tournament after losing in the 1st round of the 69kg Welterweight and 52kg Flyweight categories.

In March 2020, Gaurav failed to qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after failing to reach the quarterfinals of the Asian Olympic Qualifiers. His chance of qualifying for the Olympics looks slim as the International Olympic Committee decided to scrap the World Olympic Qualifiers event.