The gold Singh won at the Bangkok Asiad was the first in 16 years for Indian boxing
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Asian Games gold medal-winning former boxer Dingko Singh passed away on Thursday after a long battle with liver cancer. Singh was 42 and was fighting the disease since 2017. He is survived by his wife Babai Ngangom, a son, and a daughter.
While he was battling cancer, the former bantamweight (54kg) boxer’s health was also compromised after suffering from jaundice and COVID-19 last year.
“We lost a legend,” Olympic-bound boxer Vikas Krishan said summing up what he meant to Indian boxing.
The gold Singh won at the Bangkok Asiad was the first in 16 years for Indian boxing after Kaur Singh’s top finish at the regional showpiece in the 1982 edition.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju offered condolences on his demise. The national federation and a lot of Indian boxers also expressed their grief.
“I’m deeply saddened by the demise of Shri Dingko Singh. One of the finest boxers India has ever produced, Dinko’s gold medal at 1998 Bangkok Asian Games sparked the Boxing chain reaction in India,” Rijiju said.
Singh won his maiden national title (sub-junior) as a 10-year-old. He was touted as one of the first modern stars of Indian boxing. And with his Asian Games gold he inspired the likes of six-time world champion M C Mary Kom.
“He was a rockstar, a legend, a rage. I remember I used to queue up to watch him fight in Manipur. He inspired me. He was my hero. It is a huge loss. He has gone too soon,” Mary Kom told PTI recalling the iconic boxer who faded from the scene after cancer took its toll on his body.
“Life is so unpredictable,” she said.
A fearless competitor in the ring, Dingko beat two Olympic medallists– Sontaya Wongprates of Thailand and Timur Tulyakov of Uzbekistan. This was a remarkable feat for an Indian boxer at that time.
Ironically, Singh only made the cut after registering his protest by “threatening to commit suicide”. He was eventually picked and justified his presence with a splendid performance.
“He was exceptional in the ring and a character off it. What a talent and equally sad is how he could not achieve more,” former national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who was in charge in the 1998 Asiad, told PTI.
“May his life’s journey & struggle forever remain a source of inspiration for the upcoming generations,” added India’s first Olympic-medallist in boxing Vijender Singh.
Dingko was also awarded the Arjuna award the same year he won the single biggest medal medal of his career. In 2013, he was honoured with the Padma Shri for his contribution to the sport. He was also an Olympian, having represented the country in the 2000 Sydney Games.
“It was not easy but I told myself ‘ladna hai toh ladna hai’. I was not prepared to give up, no one should,” he had said in his last interaction with PTI after recovering.
