While gymnastics is not a popular sporting discipline in India, Yogeshwar Singh came close to scripting history when he qualified for the final of all-around Artistic Gymnastics, as the only Indian male participant at the Commonwealth Games 2022. India have never won a medal at Artistic Gymnastics All-Around category at the Commonwealth Games, and the nation’s only medals in the discipline had come at the 2010 edition of the mega event, when Ashish Kumar won the silver and bronze medals at the Floor and Vault events respectively.

Despite qualifying for the men’s Artistic Gymnastic all-around final, Yogeshwar is not known widely by many. Let’s take a look at his life and how he reached where he is today.

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Born on April 26, 1997, in Ambala Cantonment, Haryana, Singh completed his schooling from Sanathan Dharam Senior Secondary School in 2014. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Kurukshetra University, which is set to be completed in 2022.

Yogeshwar’s father is a former employee of a government hospital in Ambala, while his mother is a housewife. While accompanying his father at various sporting events in Haryana, he grew an interest in gymnastics, and began training at the age of 9 in 2005.

The young gymnast made his international debut at the World School Games in 2013. Two years later, he went on to participate at the National Games, where he clinched a silver medal in the vault event. His consistent performance also helped him to be selected for the Indian Army under sports quota.

After being selected by the Army, Singh trained at the Army Institute of Physical Education in Pune. His training bore fruit as Yogeshwar excelled in several competitions where he participated. Yogeshwar participated at the FIG Artistic World Championships in 2017 and finished at the 12th spot at the all-around event in 2018 Commonwealth Games.

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In a country where gymnasts are still evolving to finish on the podium, Yogeshwar finished at the 16th position in the all-round event at the 2018 Asian Games. He also participated in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in 2019, before also taking part in the FIG World Cup in the same year.

In preparations for the Commonwealth Games 2022, he participated in the FIG Apparatus World Cup and FIG World Challenge Cup, displaying an impressive performance in both.