The Indian freestyle wrestler, Virender Singh celebrated his 34th birthday on 1 April this year. Virender Singh Yadav who competes in the 74 kg division, has won three Deaflympics Gold Medals and a Bronze Medal. He is also the winner of Gold Medals at 2005 Summer Deaflympics held in Melbourne, Australia, 2013 Summer Deaflympics in Sofia, Bulgaria and 2017 Summer Deaflympics in Samsun, Turkey. He won a Bronze at 2009 Summer Deaflympics held at Taipei in Chinese Taipei.
Virender Singh Biography
Virender Singh was born on 1 April 1986 into a family of farmers in Sasroli village in Haryana. His father in Ajit Singh, who was a soldier in CISF and mother is Manna Devi. Virender’s father and uncle who were also wrestlers supported him to take up wrestling as a career. Wresting was a tradition in their family passed on by generations. As a deaf kid, Virender faced bullying from other kids in the village and his uncle Surinder Pehelwan brought him to Delhi to live at the CISF quarters with him and his father. Virender got interested in wrestling by watching his father and uncle wrestling. They identified wrestling talent in Virender and started training him in Pehlwani wrestling at major wrestling centres including Chhatrasal Stadium and Guru Hanuman Akhara. He was later trained by Dronacharya Awardee Coaches Maha Singh Rao, Ramphal Singh and Satpal Singh. Even amidst financial limitations and lack of training facilities, his family ensured him with necessary dietary supplements including tinned milk, ghee and fresh vegetables.
Virender Singh Best Played Games
Virender started writing success story in his wrestling career by winning a Gold medal in the National Rounds of the 2002 World Cadet Wrestling Championships. The victory in this rounds has qualified for the world events, but the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) sent the Silver medallist instead of him for the International round citing his deafness as a reason. This was the first time that Virender faced physical discrimination in his career. In 2005, he came to know about the Deaflympics, which was formerly known as The World Games for the Deaf or The Silent Games. He won a Gold medal in his first Deaflympics of Summer 2005 at Melbourne, Australia. Following his first recognition on an international level, he started preparing for representing India at the Olympics. The consistent discrimination and lack of knowledge from the authorities of the Wrestling Federation of India made it difficult for him to get referees that could govern matches for the deaf. He continued focusing on the Deaflympics and in 2008 he won Silver in the World Deaf Wrestling Championships in Armenia. He won Bronze in 2002 Summer Deaflympics in Taipei, China and 2012 World Deaf Wrestling Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
In Deaflympics of Summer 2013, he won the Gold medal and regained his place in his maiden Deaflympics in 2005. This victory opened him with bigger opportunities and he won a Gold medal in the 2016 World Deaf Wrestling Championships in Tehran, Iran. He won another Gold medal in the Deaflympics of Summer 2017 in Samsun, Turkey.
Virender is currently working as a Junior Sports Coach with the Sports Authority of India for training the next generation of wrestlers. A documentary has been made on the life story and career of Virender Singh titled, Goonga Pehelwan, directed by Mit Jani, Prateek Gupta and Vivek Chaudhary. The title of the film meaning ‘The Mute Wrestler’ in English, is given as that was how the world knew him. He was mostly referred to as ‘Goonga’ in the wrestling circle and even by his friends and family. The 45-minute documentary was screen at various film festivals across the world and has won several film awards including the National Film Award in 2015.
Virender Singh Achievements and Awards
In July 2015, Virender was awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award, the civilian award in India for outstanding individual achievements in National Sports. The award was in recognition for his stellar contribution to Indian Sports. Before that, the State Government has awarded him the Rajiv Gandhi State Sports Award. He also received the Delhi Star Award in 2019. He was also bestowed with Indian Sports Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 by Hon’ble IOA Vice President Kuldeep Vats. He won Second Haq Express Award at Air Force Auditorium in New Delhi on 4th, February 2019. Virender was nominated for the 2018-19 Bharat Gaurav Award.
Virender Singh Personal Life
Virender currently lives in a small room inside an ‘Akhada’ in Delhi. Virender took up wrestling as his career to escape from the bullying he had to suffer due to his hearing disability. He has said that wrestling has always given me the faith and confidence that he can achieve whatever he wishes. He has mentioned in his website that he didn’t ever expect that he had to wrestle not only with his opponents but with the injustice that exists in the sports community. He has met various authorities including the Sports Minister regarding equal rights for deaf athletes.
Virender Singh Images on India Content Website
The India Content website has a good stock of Virender Singh images. The high-definition images on the website are available in three sizes – small, medium and large.
You can purchase various other content images from the https://www.indiacontent.in
