RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel felicitated 14-year-old Yuvraj Singh, the only boy from Bastar district to be feted for his outstanding achievement in Muay Thai Boxing at national and international competitions, during the Republic Day function at Jagdalpur, the divisional headquarters of tribal Bastar, on January 26.
Sharing his post Republic Day function experience, Yuvraj, a resident of Jagdalpur, told TOI that he has won five consecutive gold medals at national level competitions during the last five years.
“I have also helped India win a gold medal in the World Muay Thai Boxing Championship held in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur in August, 2022,” he said.
Recalling a unique event that happened on board his Panaji–Visakhapatnam bound flight on June 5, 2018, Yuvraj said that he was just ten years old then and it was his first national Muay Thai Boxing Championship in Goa.
He clinched the maiden gold of his career in the debut and the medal ceremony got delayed due to some reasons.
“My father and I Rajendra Singh went to bed around 12 in the night after the medal celebration with the other participants and winners. We had to catch the flight around 6 am the very next day at Panaji airport for Visakhapatnam. We checked out at 5 am and my father put the medal, kept in our hotel room, on my neck in a hurry and we went to the airport where the security personnel prevented me from taking this medal, but they got convinced when we told them the entire matter. We boarded the flight at Panaji airport and my father was recording some outside views from the flight windows 90000-ft above the ground. In the meantime, we heard an onboard announcement by one of the air hostesses congratulating me and expressing a wish to cut the cake on the board for my first gold medal. It was just an announcement for me during that time, but when I recall it I feel proud today. Perhaps, I am the first athlete from Chhattisgarh to experience such a unique event and the rest is history,” he said.
At present, Yuvraj can throw five punches in a second and his father shared a video of his practice in which he can be seen making five punches in a second. “He has a target of throwing at least ten punches in a second,” said Rajendra Singh.
Recently, Yuvraj had attended a U-23 camp organised in Tripura even as he was too young for this camp, but his achievements in the game earned him a place in the camp where he improved his techniques and skills, said Yuvraj.
The Bastar boy had earned the distinction of being the first from Chhattisgarh to represent India at the 2022 International Federation of Muay Thai Youth World Championships in the age group of 14, organised in Kuala Lumpur from August 9 to 20, 2022, and won a bronze medal.
He could have bettered his performance, but he was not fully aware about the rules and regulations of the event which had cost him dearly in the championship.
