Picture Credit: Twitter
The 26-year-old Indian Judoka Vijay Kumar Yadav has bagged a bronze medal in the judo men's 60kg final at the Commonwealth Games 2022 on Monday. Vijay bagged a waza-ari after just 5 seconds of the bell and held on to clinch the ippon to take home the bronze medal in the men's 60kg Judo event. With that win India now has eight overall medals in CWG 2022.
Vijay Kumar was regarded as one of the top-notch contenders to bring back a medal at the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2022. Vijay has been a known name when it comes to Judo in India as he has claimed several illustrious championships in the short span of his career.
He bagged a bronze medal at the Asian Open in Hong Kong in 2018, won the Commonwealth Championships in Walsall in 2019 and Jaipur in 2018. He has given testimony of his potential by winning multiple championships at the senior and junior level. Vijay Kumar has also won a Lakshman state award in 2019 while bagging a bronze medal at the Asian Open in Hong Kong in the same year.
As a cadet, he took medals at Asian Cadet Championships, and as a senior, he was fifth in 2017. He competes in the IJF World Tour. Vijay's best came in 2018 as he made a massive jump in terms of rankings and from 60 in the world in December 2017, he finished 2018 as world number 22.
However, after finishing fifth in the Asian Championship that year, big things were expected from Vijay at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. He lost in the first round, setting off a long slide that he could not have foreseen. He was removed from the government's elite Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), and his entry to that year's world championships was withdrawn.
In 2019, Vijay, the defending national championship faced another setback. For the first time in five years, he was outplayed in the 60kg title to Army's Gulab Ali. By April last year, his world ranking had slipped to 150.
Let's look at every specific detail related to Indian judoka Vijay Kumar.
Name: Vijay Kumar Yadav
Age: 26-years-old
Born: 15 April 1996
Birth place: Mahuariya, 22km from Varanasi.
Profession: Judo
Achievements:
- Claimed a bronze medal in men's 60kg Judo event at the CWG 2022
-Claimed a bronze medal at the Asian Open in Hong Kong in 2018.
-Won the Commonwealth Championships in Walsall in 2019.
-Won a Lakshman state award in 2019
-Claimed a bronze medal at the Asian Open in Hong Kong in 2019.