Virender Singh
A deaf wrestler from Haryana, subject of the film Goonga Pehelwan, who won three Deaflympics golds, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2021.
Virender Singh is a deaf wrestler who over two decades has won medals for India at every international event he has entered. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2021 in the field of sports, from Haryana [1].
Deaflympics
Singh was born on 1 April 1986 [2]. He has wrestled at four Deaflympics, winning three golds and a bronze [2]. He won gold at his first, in Melbourne in 2005, bronze in Taipei in 2009, and gold again in Sofia in 2013 and Samsun, Turkey, in 2017 [2].
At three Deaf World Championships he has won a medal each time: silver in Yerevan in 2008, bronze in Sofia in 2012 and gold in 2016 [2].
A household name
He is a big draw at the dangals, the wrestling contests held across north India, and has become a household name [2]. He is the subject of a National Award-winning documentary, Goonga Pehelwan [2]. He received the Arjuna Award and the National Disability Award in 2016, and the Rajiv Gandhi State Sports Award in 2008 [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2021: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 24 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2021: citation for Virender Singh — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 24 October 2026.
Last updated . First draft prepared with AI assistance; reviewed and fact-checked by a person before publishing. Report a correction
