Vikas Krishan Yadav is an Indian boxer in the 75-kg category from Bhiwani district in Haryana. Other than Vijender Singh, Yadav is the second such sportsman to qualify for Olympics for the third time.
Yadav started boxing at the age of 10 in 2003 at Bhiwani Boxing Club and later received training in the Army Sports Institute, Pune. Post-2012 Olympics, he took a year off to complete his education. He is a DSP in Haryana Police.
He was named the Best Boxer at the 2010 National Championships in New Delhi and received Arjuna Award in 2012.
In 2010, he won two gold medals at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships, a bronze medal in the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in the lightweight category, and again a gold medal in Asian Games held in China that year.
In the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships, Yadav received a bronze medal in the Welterweight category after losing to Taras Shelestyuk of Ukraine.
The 29-year-old boxer went in for a rude shock in the 2012 Olympics as he lost his welterweight pre-quarterfinal against Errol Spence Jr Errol of the US after AIBA overturned the decision on a protest from the Americans.
After a brief hiatus, Yadav came back to the ring during the 2014 Asian Games held in South Korea where he won a bronze.
Later in the 2016 Rio Olympics, even though he qualified by finishing with a bronze medal at the Olympic qualifiers, he lost to Bektemir Melikuziev of Uzbekistan in the Quarter Final of Men's Middle 75 kg Boxing.
Yadav got his golden streak back after winning in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. He became the first Indian male boxer to win gold medals at both the Asian and Commonwealth Games.
He booked his upcoming Tokyo Olympic ticket after beating Japan's Sewon Okazawa in the 69-kg weight class.
