Gaurav Bidhuri (born 16 May 1993) is an Indian boxer from Mandanpur Khadar village,

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

who competes in the 56 kg bantamweight division. He is ranked 11th in the World by

AIBA The International Boxing Association (IBA), previously known as the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA), is a sports organization that sanctions amateur and professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships. ...

in the year 2018. He won a bronze medal at the 2017 World Boxing Championships held at

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. He is the only 4th Indian boxer who got a medal at World Boxing Championship. He is currently employed with Indian Railways.

World Championship 2017

Gaurav Bidhuri got a wild-card entry for his debut 2017 World Championship under the Bantamweight category. After winning the quarterfinal bout against

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n boxer Bilel Mhamdi, he was guaranteed a medal at the competition.

Early life

Gaurav started his boxing career when he was 11 years old at his father's Boxing club. His father, Dharmender Bidhuri is his first coach who himself is a National Level Boxer. It was his father's dream to represent the country in

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and win a medal, but due to family issues, he could not continue his boxing career. His love of boxing could not keep him away from the sport, so he started his own boxing club, where he trains the locals free of cost. Gaurav aims to complete his father's dream to represent the country in

and get a medal for the nation. Gaurav completed his schooling from The Frank Anthony Public School and completed his graduation from

Kirori Mal College Kirori Mal College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi. Established in 1954, it is located in the heart of North Campus of the university in New Delhi, and offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the sciences, humani ...

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Boxing career

2004-2010

Gaurav won the gold medal in the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

State Sub Junior Boxing Championship for 5 consecutive years since 2004. In the year 2005, he was also awarded the Best Boxer in the championship. In 2005, he won a gold medal at the 21st Sub Junior National Boxing Championship held in

Noida Noida (), short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (ISO: ), is a city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. As per provisional reports of Census of India, the population of Noida in 2011 was ...

. In the following year, he won a silver medal at the 22nd Sub Junior Boxing Championship in

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. He won a gold medal in the 2007 School National Championship in

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along with the title of Best Boxer. In 2008 he again won two gold medals. One at the 23rd Sub Junior National Boxing Championship held in Galanhad,

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, and the other in School National Games held in

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. He also participated in the Children of Asia Games in

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. In the 2009 School National championship, he won a silver medal. He was a quarter-finalist in the 2009

World Junior Boxing Championship held in

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. He won a bronze medal in the 2010 Youth School National Championship.

2011-2015

In 2011, Gaurav won a bronze medal at the 21st Presidents Cup held in

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. He bagged a gold medal besides the title of Best Boxer at the 2011 All-India University Boxing Championship taken place in

Udaipur Udaipur (Hindi: , ) (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura'') is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, about south of the state capital Jaipur. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Udaipur district. It is the historic capital of t ...

. In the same year, he was part of the Mumbai Fighters in the

World Series of Boxing 250px, LA Matadors vs. Moscow Dynamo in Hollywood, CA on 4 December 2011. Both amateur boxers compete without vests or head guards. The World Series of Boxing or WSB was an international boxing tournament that allowed amateur boxers to compete p ...

and won the match against the Dynamo Moscow. He won a silver medal in the 2012 59th Senior Men's National Boxing Championship in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. The boxer was selected for training cum World Boxing Championship in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. He came in at the second position for the World Championship selection trials. He attended the national camp in the month of May. Gaurav was a quarter-finalist in the 17th

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held in

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. Gaurav captured the silver medal in the Qatar International Boxing Championship. He was part of a training cum competition in

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where he defeated the World Number 3 boxer of the year. He was selected by the Italia Thunder for the

for the session 2014-2015 and 2015–2016. He won three consecutive matches for his team in the tournament. He had a clear victory against Caciques Venezuela's Orlando David Pinosilva In the two matches held in April, he crushed his opponents Zhakupov Kiras of Astana Arians

and Kozlowski Grzegorz of Rafako Hussars Polland. Earlier in the match held in the month of March, he had lost the match against Azerbaijan Baku Fires' Murad Rabadanov. He also lost the match against

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Knockouts’ Venegas Brent Richard held in June.

2016-2019

Gaurav participated in the World Olympic qualifier held in

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. In July, Gaurav reached the quarter-finals of the WSB/APB qualifier at Vargas,

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. He was selected for the

by USA Knockout for the season 2016 to 2017 but he lost the WSB fight against the

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Lionhearts. Gaurav Bidhuri claimed the bronze medal at the AIBA World Boxing Championship held in

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. He won a gold medal in the 44th Grand Prix held in the month of July in

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. He reached the quarter-finals of the Asian Boxing Championship in

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Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. At the Umakhanov Memorial Tournament in Kapiysk, Russia, he won a bronze medal. He also won a silver medal at the National Boxing Championship held in Pune. Gaurav played for the Bengaluru Brawler in th
Big Bout League
. He won a silver medal at the Indian Railway Championship held in the month of September. The boxer also won a silver medal at the Presidents Cup in

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. He participated in the Round Robin Cup which took place in

. He was also a participant in the Strandhza Cup held in

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Awards and achievements

Gaurav Bidhuri is the 4th Indian Boxer in the history of boxing who has won a medal at the World Boxing Championship. He is the 2nd Indian ever to grab a medal at the debut match of World Boxing Championship. Gaurav is the 1st Indian boxer till now who has signed two successive contracts in the

World Series Boxing image:World Series Boxing Ring.JPG, 250px, LA Matadors vs. Moscow Dynamo in Hollywood, CA on 4 December 2011. Both amateur boxers compete without vests or head guards. The World Series of Boxing or WSB was an international boxing tournament that ...

(for the Italian team in 2015 and the USA team in 2016). He is the first and only wild card player to get a medal at the World Boxing Championship. Gaurav was nominated for the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

, one of the highest-ranked sports, for three consecutive years, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

awarded him with The Best Boxer Award in the year 2017.

References

Sources

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External links

World Boxing Championship: Gaurav Bidhuri assures India a medal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bidhuri, Gaurav Indian male boxers 21st-century Indian sportsmen Living people 1993 births Boxers from Delhi AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists Boxers at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games boxers for India Bantamweight boxers