Virender Singh is not a name many people will know about. The man cannot hear and yet he has done wonders for India inside the wrestling ring. Goonga Pehelwan was a documentary made on his life and why not? He certainly deserves it.
He has won 3 gold and one bronze medal in the Deaflympics along with silver and bronze in the World Deaf Wrestling Championship. Now those are a lot of medals.
He was born into a farmer's family in Haryana and has not been able to hear since he was a kid. As a deaf child he was bullied in his village before his father and uncle took him to Delhi to train as a wrestler as the sport was their family tradition. His talent was evident and Virender slowly began to improve his skills.
The National Rounds of the World Cadet Wrestling Championships in 2002 saw him win gold. Sadly he could qualify because of his deafness though officially he should not have been barred from the international event. Nonetheless he did not lose heart and in 2005 took part in the Deaflympics and won his first gold.
There was no looking back as medals followed and by 2017 he had won a lot of laurels for India. Sadly these good times were not to last long.
Despite getting the Arjuna Award, the government kept on ignoring him for major awards later on. The Deaflympics were not given due recognition by the government though they are of the same standards as the Paralympics. This ignorance of deaf athletes in general pushed those like Virender to the background.
Virender currently works as a clerk in the Haryana power corporation and is pretty much forgotten by the country. It's a sad state of affairs for someone who has always put his best foot forward for the country.
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