Hawa Singh was an Indian heavyweight boxer who is widely regarded as one of the finest amateur boxers produced by India. He dominated the heavyweight division in Indian boxing through the 1960s and is best known for winning the heavyweight gold medal at the Asian Games on two consecutive occasions, in 1966 and 1970. He was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1966 for his contribution to Indian boxing.
| Full name | Hawa Singh |
|---|---|
| Born | 1937, Umarwas, Bhiwani district, Haryana, India |
| Died | 2000 |
| Sport | Amateur boxing |
| Weight class | Heavyweight |
| Affiliation | Indian Army (Services) |
| Major honours | Asian Games gold (1966, 1970); Arjuna Award (1966) |
| National titles | Indian national heavyweight champion for multiple consecutive years during the 1960s |
Hawa Singh was born in 1937 in the village of Umarwas in the Bhiwani district of Haryana, a region that has since become known as a major nursery of Indian boxing. He joined the Indian Army, where he was introduced to organised boxing and trained within the Services sports framework, an institutional pipeline that produced many of India's leading boxers in the post-Independence era.
Hawa Singh was the undisputed heavyweight champion of India through the 1960s, winning the national heavyweight title in successive years. His combination of physical power, reach and defensive technique made him largely untouchable in the domestic circuit during this period.
At the 1966 Asian Games held in Bangkok, Hawa Singh won the gold medal in the heavyweight category, becoming one of the first Indian boxers to claim a continental title at this level. The same year he was conferred the Arjuna Award by the Government of India.
At the 1970 Asian Games, also held in Bangkok, Hawa Singh successfully defended his heavyweight title, winning a second consecutive gold medal. This made him the first Indian boxer to win gold at two successive Asian Games, a distinction that secured his place as a pioneer of the sport in the country.
After retiring from active competition, Hawa Singh moved into coaching and administration. He served as a boxing coach at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bhiwani, where he played a central role in establishing the town as a leading hub for Indian boxing. Generations of boxers from Haryana trained under his guidance or under coaches associated with him, and Bhiwani came to be informally known as "Little Cuba" in Indian sporting circles owing to its prolific output of boxers.
Hawa Singh's twin Asian Games gold medals in the heavyweight division remain a landmark achievement in Indian boxing history. He is credited with inspiring the boxing culture of Haryana, particularly in Bhiwani, which subsequently produced internationally recognised boxers including Vijender Singh, Akhil Kumar and Vikas Krishan. His legacy is carried forward through annual boxing tournaments and training programmes named in his honour.