Kavinder Bisht

Kavinder Singh Bisht is an Indian boxer born on 1st February 1993. He hails from Panda village of Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand. He represents India internationally in Bantamweight and Featherweight categories.

Background

Kavinder Singh Bisht was born to Dhan Singh Bisht and Bhage Bisht. He belongs to a humble family, where his father is a state government employee and his mother is a housewife.

Kavinder was interested in playing football while in school. He was a striker and had participated in school tournaments. In 2007, he switched his career interest from football to boxing after the local boxing coach Dharam Chand inspired him to pick up the sport. Kavinder felt more encouraged after Vijender Singh’s Bronze medal win at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and began to pursue boxing seriously. He joined a local boxing academy, where he was trained by Dharam Chand.

In 2009, Kavinder participated in a boxing trial at the Sports Authority Center, which gave him a break. 2 years later, in 2011, he joined the Sports Authority of India in Uttarakhand and received his first professional training. Apart from boxing, he does play football, his first love, during off days to keep himself fit.

Kavinder Singh has been serving in the Indian Air Force since 2017.

Rise to Glory

Kavinder received his career breakthrough in 2007 when he won the Gold medal at the Sun-Junior State Boxing Championship. In 2009, he created the state record by clinching the Gold medal at the All India University Boxing Championship and received the Best Boxer of the Championship award. That year, he competed at the Junior National Boxing Championship in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

In 2012, Kavinder won his first national Gold medal Center Zone Men Boxing Championship in Kotdwar, Uttarakhand. That year, he represented the Central Team and won the Bronze medal at the Inter-Zonal Men National Boxing Championship in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

In 2015, he competed at the World Military Games and ended his campaign as a quarterfinalist. In 2017, Kavinder won the Silver medal at the 48th Grand Prix Usti Nad Labem in the Czech Republic.

In March 2019, he clinched the Gold medal at the GeeBee Boxing Tournament in Helsinki, Finland. followed by a Silver medal at the India Open Boxing in Guwahati, Assam. The following year, in November, Kavinder won the Silver medal at the Alexis Vastine International Tournament in Nantes, France.

Major Achievements

Kavinder Singh Bisht made his international debut at the 2013 Asian Youth Championships but was knocked out in the 1st round.

In 2017, he competed at the World Boxing Championships in the 51kg Flyweight category and reached the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by South Korea’s Kim-In-kyu in Hamburg, Germany. That year, he reached the quarterfinals of the 51kg Flyweight category at the Asian Amateur Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

At the 2019 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships, Kavinder received a major career breakthrough after he won the Silver medal in the Bantamweight category. He caught the limelight when he stunned the 2017 World Boxing Champion Kairat Yeraliyev in the quarterfinal round. In September, he participated in the 57kg Featherweight category and reached the quarterfinals before losing to England’s Peter McGrail at the World Boxing Championships in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Kavinder Singh Bisht is eyeing the Olympics berth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics though chances are slim as the International Olympic Committee cancelled the World Olympic Qualifiers.