Thokchom Nanao Singh is a young and talented boxer from India. He was born on 8th January 1991, in Khoijuman Maning Leikai village in Bishnupur district of Manipur. He trains at the Pune based Army Sports Institute and is also supported by Olympic Gold Quest, which is a non-profit making institute that supports and trains Indian athletes.
Early Life of Thokchom Nanao Singh
Thokchom Nanao Singh was born in a village (35 kilometres (22 mi) from Imphal) in Bishnupur district of Manipur. He is the son of Thokchom Tobobi Singh and Keinahanbi Devi, his father and mother respectively. His passion and interest in boxing developed from a very young age, when he was eight. His interest in sports received all the impetus from his friends, who supported and inspired him to take up boxing. He was also tremendously inspired by the success of Dingko Singh, a Manipur boxer who won a gold medal at the 1998 Asian Games, and Muhammad Ali.
As he was the youngest child in the family, his parents, instead of sports, wanted him to concentrate on education. When his father saw him put on a pair of boxing gloves, he got angry and sent him to boarding school, in order to redirect his focus to education. Nanao ran away from school and came back home. Seeing his passion and dedication for boxing, his father enrolled him to local boxing coaching centre. Nanao Singh joined the Pune-based Army Sports Institute in the year 2000.
Career of Thokchom Nanao Singh
As an Amateur Boxer
At the start of the boxing career Nanao Singh won sub-junior national championships consecutively in 2004, 2005 and 2006. He also won the National Junior Champion in the years 2007 and 2008 he was the National Junior Champion. He represented India at various prestigious events. He won silver medal at the 2007 Commonwealth Boxing Championships in Liverpool under 48 kg category. He has always been adored by his coach and he won gold medal at the Youth Games in 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games. At the 2009 in Asian Amateur Boxing Championships, he closely missed the gold medal in his category. Overall Indian boxers performed well and the coach was happy. Following this win, Nanao Singh he was ranked fifth with a tally of 1400 points.
Nanao Singh, in January 2010, injured his hand and this put him out of boxing. And he was unable to participate at the Indian National Championships.
Over the years he has been a great boxer for India and experts have predicted that he is one of the best boxers and has a bright future ahead of him.
