Good Times for Vijender
Olympic success coupled with boyish good looks have catapulted small town boy Vijender into the national spotlight. As expected endorsements have started trickling in; Bajaj Allianz recently signed Vijender for their ‘Early Start Insurance Plan’ as a Brand Ambassador. (Video ad on the Bajaj Allianz site here)
The Bhiwani boy is even attracting the attention in Hollywood. Sylvester ‘Rocky’ Stallone has offered Vijender a spot on his boxing show ‘The Contender’. Which is a sort of Indian Idol for boxers. Thankfully Vijender is unlikely to indulge in this potentially financially lucrative yet trivial pursuit stating “I have still not decided. Playing for my country is my priority right now.”
While an Olympic hero in the limelight will definitely help the Indian Olympic cause, Vijender has expressed reservations about all the attention. “Why does everyone ask me about my page 3 parties, my looks and my Bollywood interests? No one asks me about my first love - boxing, any more…”
He seems to know what is important and has his priorities right. Sadly the media does not. We here at IndiaAtLondon.com appreciate Vijender for what he truly is… An Olympic hero.
In a way, it is a refreshing change to see sports person, other than cricketers doing endorsements. This can one of the attributes to attract talent towards taking sports seriously.
But as you mentioned, its weird to note that the media is after his flamboyance and not punches
Sadly popular media does not want to focus on what is important for Olympic athletes and sports unless there is glamour and flamboyance attached. This is why Sushil Kumar (also a bronze medallist) has not got the same attention as Vijender.
The media is more interested in Bipasha’s promise about dating Vijender if he’d won Gold. They’re sadder that he missed out on the date than the medal. And have not yet recovered from it.
Also, the media doesn’t even know who the Olympic medallists actually are and to which discipline they belong. Just check these links:
The Hindu | The Times of India
nimish, wat funny articles. gud u postd abt it, wat do they mean?? jitu won?? wen? n abhinav n archery?! d world didn’t know dat!
Hi Tara…welcome to IAL…its not funny…its actually very sad when the leading newspapers of this country make such ghastly mistakes…it shows the importance they give to sports like archery, shooting and boxing…and they are not even apologetic about it
[...] boxers on their return. Some of them might just end up with an advertising contract – a la Vijender. In a nutshell Indian boxers are sure to get a lot of adulation and rewards in the days to [...]