Hawa Singh

Hawa Singh

Medal record
Representing  India
Asian Games
	1966 Bangkok	Heavyweight
	1970 Bangkok	Heavyweight

Captain Hawa Singh (December 16, 1937 in Umarwas, Haryana – August 14, 2000, in Bhiwani, Haryana) 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 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 (August 2008). He won the National Championships in the Heavyweight category a record 11 consecutive times — from 1961 to 1972. He is best remembered today for being the founder of the Bhiwani Boxing Club (BBC),^[1] which came to the limelight in 2008 in India for producing 4 out of 5 boxers of the Indian boxing contingent to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, including the olympic medallist Vijender Kumar.

Biography

Hawa Singh was born in now Haryana in 1937. He enrolled in the Indian Army in 1956, and became the champion of the Western Command in 1960 by defeating the defending champion, Mohabbat Singh. He won the National Championships for 11 straight years from 1961 to 1972, winning gold medals at the 1966 Asian Games and the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok. He was awarded the Arjuna Award, India's highest sporting award, in 1966.

After retiring, he took up coaching and was the co-founder of the Bhiwani Boxing Club ^[2] which produced a slew of Indian boxers in the 1990s and 2000s (decade), including Olympic medallist Vijender Kumar. He was awarded the Dronacharya Award in 1999.

He died suddenly in Bhiwani on August 14, 2000 – 15 days before he was to have received the Dronacharya Award.

Notes

References

• Biography of Hawa Singh*India's highest sporting awards and those who won them, SS Gandhi, The Defence Review