Boxing over Bollywood for Vijender Singh

One of India’s medal hopefuls at the 2012 Olympics, boxer Vijender Singh is hoping to clinch a second medal in London this summer (he won a bronze at the Beijing Olympics).
The 26-year-old, who is training in Patiala, says that with each passing day he is getting closer to his Olympic dream. “The pressure is there for a reason, it helps motivate me to work harder.I have got my blinkers on and am focusing all my energy positively on boxing and on what I need to achieve,” says Vijender.
However, Vijender is not without his share of criticism. He managed to make the cut for the London Olympics at the final qualification event. And before booking his berth, the pugilist went through a bad patch — he lost tournaments in the run up to the Olympics. Word on the street was that Vijender had become complacent. According to a report, the boxer made around ` 2 crore from government cash awards since his 2008 win.
“It used to affect me initially, but now I’ve understood criticism is there in every field, everyone in the public eye gets it, but you have to learn to take it positively or ignore it completely,” says Vijender, adding, “For me it works well as I only end up thinking of it as a remark I need to work on. When you’re representing a sport, people are more likely to judge and comment as, unlike other fields, sport permits every viewer to participate to a certain level.”
Is this the last stint at the Olympics for the third-time participant? “I am lucky to have had this opportunity for a third time, but I don’t want to restrict myself. I will decide whether or not I will participate in the next Olympics. At the moment, I want to perform my best and do everyone proud.”
Rumours about his much-awaited B-town debut alongside Govinda’s daughter Narmada have been doing the rounds for a long time. So, is a Bollywood stint in the offing? “I’ve grown up with Bollywood and I continue to enjoy it. But boxing remains my passion. I have had 10 offers in the past to act in films, but at the moment I only want to concentrate on my boxing career. I have never thought of a full-fledged career in Bollywood because boxing has never left my mind. But you never know,” says Vijender, who recently celebrated his first wedding anniversary with wife Archana.