Mohammed Ali Qamar is a boxer from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He was the first Indian to win a gold medal in the discipline of boxing in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

held in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Born into the Ghettoes of

Kidderpore Khidirpur or Kidderpore is a neighborhood of metropolitan Kolkata, Kolkata (Calcutta), in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. Etymology Most plausibly, the name is a corruption of ''Khidrpur'' or ''Khizarpur'', Khizr/Khidr being the guar ...

, Qamar was inducted into boxing at an early age by his father at the Kidderpore School of Physical Education, and was coached by Cheena Bhai. Qamar became the Inter-district champion in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

in 1991. He won the

Light Flyweight Light flyweight, also known as junior flyweight or super strawweight, is a weight class in boxing. Professional boxing The weight limit at light flyweight in professional boxing is 108 pounds (49 kilograms). When New York legalized boxing in 1920, ...

category at the national sub-junior levels from 1992 to 1996. Qamar had a strong showing in the

1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships The Men's 1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships were held in Houston, United States from August 15 to August 29. The tenth edition of this competition, a year before the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, was organised by the world governing ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, reaching the quarter finals before losing to Ron Siler of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. At the

, Qamar upset the home favorite Darren Langley 27-25 in the final, outscoring Langley 10-3 and surviving a standing count in the dramatic final round after trailing by 5 points at the beginning of the fourth and last round.Rediff: Qamar wins gold in boxing
/ref> Qamar's career was plagued by injury and he did not win a major competition again, losing in the quarterfinals at the 2002 Asian Games at

Pusan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

. Qamar's neighborhood of Kidderpore is the hub of

Women's boxing Although women have participated in boxing for almost as long as the sport has existed, female fights have been effectively outlawed for most of boxing's history until recently, with athletic commissioners refusing to sanction or issue licenses ...

in India, who claim Qamar as one of their inspirations.

Awards

* Arjuna Award, 2002 * Drona Award, 2022

References

Indian male boxers Indian Muslims Sportspeople from Kolkata Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Boxers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Recipients of the Arjuna Award Boxers at the 2002 Asian Games Commonwealth Games medallists in boxing Boxers from West Bengal Asian Games competitors for India Light-flyweight boxers 21st-century Bengalis Bengali Muslims Recipients of the Dronacharya Award Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games {{India-boxing-bio-stub

Awards

See also

References