Dingko Singh (1979-2021): Asiad gold medallist, trailblazer who confirmed the best way for India’s boxing stars, dies at 42

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FROM AN orphan who knew nothing else however boxing to changing into a job mannequin for India’s biggest champions, Dingko Singh touched many lives. On Thursday, the 1998 Asian Video games gold medallist succumbed to most cancers, after a protracted battle, at his dwelling in Imphal. He was 42.

It was Dingko’s historic gold medal that raised the morale of success-starved Indian boxing and went on to encourage Olympic medallists equivalent to Vijender Singh and Mary Kom. His first coach Ibomcha Singh nonetheless remembers the nine-year-old boy who shadow-boxed along with his trainees on the Sports activities Authority of India (SAI) centre in Imphal.

“A trainee instructed me that Dingko is from the orphanage close by. Dingko would inform me, ‘Sir, maa-baap nahin hain, humko boxing hello aata hai’,” stated Ibomcha, breaking down over the cellphone from Imphal. “When Dingko gained the Asian Video games gold, there was no electrical energy in Imphal as a result of a strike. We lit candles and celebrated the entire evening with the Indian flag. Dingko knew solely boxing, and the nation will at all times keep in mind him for that.”

Certainly one of eight youngsters, Dingko grew up in Sekta village close to Imphal along with his elder brother and youthful sister after their father died and mom left dwelling. The siblings took up work as farm labourers at the same time as Dingko ended up on the orphanage. That was when he met Imbocha, and inside a yr, turned the sub-junior nationwide champion.

His lightning-fast response time and willpower left boxing specialists mesmerised at first sight. For former India chief coach G S Sandhu, Dingko was a “robust boxer with an unmatched response time”. Fellow bantamweight boxer Akhil Kumar “fell in love with the left hook”.

“After seeing Dingko throw the left hook with such velocity and accuracy, it turned one among my favorite punches,” stated Akhil, the 2006 Commonwealth Video games bantamweight champion. “I acquired to coach with him through the Manchester CWG the place he shared a number of suggestions with me.”

In 1998, Dingko ended India’s 16-year look forward to the Asian Video games gold medal. However the victory didn’t come simply. In Bangkok, he defeated world No. 3 Wong Sontaya and world No. 5 Timur Tulyakov within the closing two bouts. The actual battle, nonetheless, was to get Dingko on the flight to Bangkok.

Two days earlier than the Indian contingent’s departure, Dingko was dropped by the Indian Olympic Affiliation, with officers deciding that he was off form. What adopted was a mass intervention, as Sandhu, international coach BI Fernandez and boxing federation president Ashok Kumar Mattoo known as for Dingko to be reincluded.

“I don’t know what led to IOA eradicating his identify but it surely was a nervous evening for all of us at (the nationwide camp in) Patiala,” recalled Sandhu. “Some boxers noticed Dingko going in the direction of the close by railway tracks and we scampered to find him. We made him consider that he’ll go to Bangkok. I made positive that two boxers remained in his room. Such was his ardour for the game.”

Fernandez usually accompanied Dingko to worldwide competitions previous to the Asian Video games.

“After I first skilled him within the nationwide camp, I used to be shocked by the velocity of his punches. It was not regular for an Indian boxer and I might usually joke with him that it’s good for the opponents however not for the sparring coach,” stated the Cuban coach. “As soon as in Cuba, he beat a top-five Mongolian boxer. Afterwards, greater than 100 youngsters lined as much as take his autograph. For him, it was like successful a medal.”

After retirement, Dingko served because the Indian Navy’s boxing coach for greater than 5 years earlier than resigning as a result of sickness and becoming a member of SAI Imphal. Suronjoy Singh, the 2010 Commonwealth Video games champion who works as a coach with the Navy, says Dingko was his idol.

“I met him as a child after the Sydney Olympics, and he made positive he met each single child on the stadium at Imphal. As a coach, he was aggressive and would ask trainees to coach with the opposite hand if one hand was injured. However then, he would additionally let many boxers from Manipur and different states keep at his Mumbai dwelling throughout Navy trials,” Suronjoy stated.

Quickly, nonetheless, Dingko’s greatest battles have been outdoors the ring.

In 2017, when docs confirmed the most cancers prognosis of 2016, spouse Babai Ngangom didn’t have the center to interrupt the information to Dingko. And final yr, Dingko examined optimistic for Covid after returning to Imphal from Delhi, the place he was present process remedy for liver most cancers.


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