Son of a farmer, champion of the world: Aditya savours title win at U-19 Boxing World Championships

Hailing from Bharan village of Rohtak district in Haryana, Aditya Singh is turning heads at 17. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

For someone who switched from orthodox to southpaw stance, 17-year-old Aditya Singh owes his 55kg title win at the World Boxing Under-19 Championships in Montenegro to the hard yards he put in during his training.

Hailing from Bharan village of Rohtak district in Haryana, Aditya reached his coach Vinod Kumar, a former National bronze medallist in 2006, in Meham six years ago with a modest target of getting into the Army Boys Sports Company – a pathway to employment. But Vinod saw some spark in the kid.

“For the first six months, nothing worked. He was an orthodox boxer, but his father never told me that. I decided to give another six months and see his performance as a southpaw. It produced results,” Vinod, also the basics coach of Olympian Preeti Pawar at Meham Boxing Club, told Sportstar.

Apart from Vinod, Aditya, a former National junior champion and an Asian under-19 silver medallist, is grateful to his farmer father Mahender Singh, who took his son to Meham, about 20km from their village, daily for training.

The teenager, who landed in the colder Montenegro two days prior to his first fight, outsmarted USA’s Futures Cup champion Christian Paez with a RSC verdict in the second round.

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“I adapted after my first fight,” Aditya, who idolises Vassily Lomachenko and Andy Cruz, told Sportstar.

He counted his gains from his five wins against boxers from three continents. “The opponents, including two southpaws, had different techniques. I learnt a lot,” said Aditya, who also got past Serbia’s Filip Stanojevic 5-0, Italy’s Tommaso Orlando 5-0, Azerbaijan’s Nihat Gasimov 5-0 and Russian Islam Magomedov 4-1 to claim India’s lone gold medal.

Coach Ramanand of the Indian team praised Aditya for his hard work and adaptability. “Aditya was good at listening to the coaches and adapting well as per the situation. In the final against the Russian, he rallied from 2-3 in the first round to win the bout,” said Ramanand.

While Aditya looks to continue as an age-group boxer, Vinod targets Los Angeles 2028. “He deserves to be in the next Olympics. He stands out with his dedication and discipline,” Vinod said.