Countdown to Tokyo Olympics: Know your Olympian – Vikas Krishan


Countdown to Tokyo Olympics: Know your Olympian – Vikas Krishan

vikas krishan

NameVikas Krishan Yadav
Date of BirthFebruary 10, 1992
Birth PlaceHisar, Haryana
Sport/Event(s)Boxing
Major achievements2018 Commonwealth Games Gold medal
Asian Games (Gold 2010, Bronze 2014 and 2018)
Asian Championships (Silver 2015, Bronze 2017 and 2021)
2011 World Championship Bronze medal

Vikas Krishan donned the gloves at a tender age of 10. He started off at the Bhiwani Boxing Club and now is a two tie Olympian gearing up for his third appearance at the prestigious stage. Krishan shot to fame after clinching the gold medal at the Wolrd Boxing Youth Championship. He followed it up with a bronze medal at the Summer Youth Olympics.

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While the youth Olympics didn’t yield the expected result, he continued to toil hard. And his hard work showed at the 2010 Asian Games, where he clinched the gold medal. He never looked back since then as he clinched eight more medals, including a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

For his great prefromance in the ring, Vikas was bestowed with the prestigious Arjuna award in 2012. The Haryana lad has fought in a couple of professional games too and has won both of them.

Vikas Krishan seals third Olympic spot

Vikas Krishan
Vikas Krishan

Vikash Krishan sealed his third Olympic berth as he stormed into the semifinal of the Asian Olympic Qualifiers. Vikas secured Olympic quota after securing a 5-0 victory over Japan’s Sewonrets Okazawa in the quarter-final of the tournament. He then fought with a cut just below his left eyebrow before claiming a split decision victory over second seed Ablaikhan Zhussupov of Kazakhstan in the semifinal.

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The injury eventually forced him to pull out of the final as he finished with a silver medal in the tournament. Something similar had happened in the 2018 Asian Games, where he bagged a record third medal at the event after reaching the semi-finals but had to withdraw as the injured eye was swollen and he could barely open it. The Haryana boxer is only the second Indian male pugilist after the celebrated Vijender Singh to qualify for three Olympic events.

Also Read | Know your Olympian – Neeraj Chopra

“I feel that the Tokyo Olympics is going to be my last Olympics game,” Vikas Krishan

Vikas Krishan
Vikas Krishan

Ahead of his record third Olympic appearance, Vikas Krishna hinted that it might be his last appearance at the Summer Games. Vikas shares that he would like to enjoy some time with his family and might hang his gloves as far as amateur boxing is concerned. He shares why he shifted from 75 kg category in the middle of his career.

I feel that the Tokyo Olympics is going to be my last Olympics game and then I want to spend time with my family and have a different kind of life. So, my friend Niraj Goyat suggested me to play in the 69 weight category. My weight comes to 71 -72 during hard training. So I just had to cut two and a half kg. So that was not a big deal for me thus I followed his advice and changed my category,” Krishan told Inside Sport.

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The 29 year old asserts that his training camp in the US was a successful one. He adds that the training stint was pivotal in improving his “toughness”. Vikasfurther shares that he worked on his strength during the two and a half month stint in the US.

I trained in the US for two and a half months. It was really a nice experience there I trained with some of the hard boxers. They punch really hard and they don’t back out. So, I got the experience and toughness from them. And apart from that, I increased my strength there when I was training,” he adds.

If Vikas can show the kind of consistency that has stood in good stead since 2018 and does not get bogged down by nerves, he has a good chance of making it to the finals at the very least. Fans of course would be hoping to see his sport that infectious grin on top of the podium.

Also Read: Countdown to Tokyo Olympics: Know your Olympian – Bajrang Punia

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