India's star boxer Vijender moves to 81kg category

New Delhi - Having suffered heartbreak in the London Games, Indian boxer Vijender Singh has now decided to shift from his pet 75kg category to 81kg for the World Championships to be held in Kazakhstan in 2013.

For the Beijing Games bronze medallist, the World Championships will the first test in his new weight category before the Asian Games and the Olympics.

“There is nothing much this year. I will be participating in the World championship next year in the 81kg category,” Vijender said at PETA’s Anti-Circus Ad Campaign here Wednesday.

Asked what prompted him to switch his weight category, Vijender said: “I have been fighting in the 75kg division for so long. I wanted to make a change.”

Vijender will be skipping the nationals in Hyderabad Oct 30-Nov 4 that would have been an ideal way of warming up in the 81kg section.

“No, I am not participating in the Nationals though I will certainly be going to watch bouts. I will be going there for the opening ceremony,” he said.

Vijender lost in the quarterfinals of the London Olympics capping a disapponting performance by the men’s boxing contingent — though M.C. Mary Kom became the first female boxer to win a medal, a bronze, at the Olympics.

The Bhiwani boxer is India’s first Olympic boxing medallist — winning a bronze at the 2008 Games.