Deepak Bhoria’s journey: From quitting sport in 2009 and delivering newspapers in 2015 to World Championship medal

Having started competing as an 11-year-old in 2008 at the insistence of his uncle, Deepak came from a humble background. His father was a constable while his mother was a homemaker, who also worked in the farms.

Consequently, a year into his fledgling boxing career, the young Deepak was forced to hang up his boxing gloves as he couldn’t afford the expenses on diet and training.

However, his coach, Rajesh Sheoran, was not ready to give up on Deepak. Sheoran coaxed him back into the ring and paid the money needed for his diet and training expenses.

Two years later, Deepak’s career hit another rocky patch.
He suffered a career-threatening fracture to his right hand, which did heal in time, but continued to trouble him for almost two years. Eventually, he underwent surgery. And even as uncertainty loomed in his professional career, the injury gave him fresh perspective. Since he was unable to move his right hand, he slowly strengthened his left hand. The boxer says that in hindsight, that focus on his weaker hand helped him immensely today as he can use both hands as a weapon in the ring.

He continued with training but in 2015, life threw in a fresh challenge. As finances ran thin, the boxer had to work as a newspaper vendor to sustain himself.

Finally, in 2016, things started to look up as he joined Madras Engineering Group, and later that year, he was selected by the Army Sports Institute.

Since then, he has never looked back. Deepak won a gold medal at 2018 Senior National Championship and in 2019 he won a gold medal at the Makran Cup on his international debut.

Deepak carried that confidence into the 2019 Asian Boxing Championships and stormed into the final, where he had to settle for the silver in a tight match that went in favour of Nodirjon Mirzakhmedov of Uzbekistan 3-2.

He announced himself on the global stage in 2021 when he defeated the 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist and 2019 World Champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan at the Strandja Memorial tournament.

2022 was a tough year for Deepak as he sustained an injury in his right shoulder in January and almost spent the whole year on the sidelines because of that.

But as the 2023 World Championships medal indicates, he is back to his best.