Trailblazing performances by boxers Navroop Singh and Bhupinder Singh continue to bring laurels to the holy city at the national and international levels.Navroop Singh recently defeated Cameroon’s Jean Junior Messi Elime in a professional boxing bout. Messi, who competes in the welterweight division, has an impressive professional record of eight wins and two defeats, including five victories by knockout.Navroop has now competed in three professional bouts and has remained unbeaten. Earlier, he registered victories in professional contests held in Amritsar and Hyderabad.Navroop, who has recently secured admission to a degree course in Physical Education at Guru Nanak Dev University, is preparing for his next professional bouts. He graduated from Khalsa College in the academic session that ended in March this year. He has been pursuing boxing since Class VI. Earlier, he studied from Class VI to XII at Khalsa College Senior Secondary School.A resident of nearby Ghanupur Kale village, Navroop comes from a humble family. His father works as a labourer in Dubai to support the family. Besides professional boxing, Navroop also competes in amateur boxing, the format followed at the Commonwealth Games, the Olympic Games and other major international competitions.Another promising boxer, Bhupinder Singh, is a final-year undergraduate student at Khalsa College and has been training in boxing since Class VII. His recruitment process for the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a Central Armed Police Force, is in its final stage.He is set to become the 139th boxer from the Khalsa College Boxing Centre to secure a government job.Bhupinder also studied from Class VII to XII at Khalsa College Senior Secondary School and joined the college boxing centre immediately after taking admission to the undergraduate programme.Earlier this year, Bhupinder won the lone bronze medal for the Punjab men’s team in the 60-kg category at the Senior National Boxing Championship held in Noida in January.Notably, Bhupinder also won medals at the All India Inter-University Championship in 2023 and the Khelo India University Games in 2024. He has also represented India as a member of the senior national boxing team.Congratulating the two pugilists on their achievements, Khalsa College Governing Council honorary secretary Rajinder Mohan Chhina, Principal Dr Atam Singh Randhawa and Dean and Head of Sports Dr Daljit Singh praised them for bringing laurels to the institution.Khalsa College Senior Secondary School Principal Sharanjit Singh Bhangu and Sports Head Rankirat Singh Sandhu also commended boxing coach Baljinder Singh for grooming talented boxers and producing consistent results.Coach Baljinder Singh expressed happiness over the success and placements of his trainees. He said his aim had always been to ensure that every student trained under him achieved greater success than he had.Serving as an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) with Punjab Police, Baljinder provides free boxing coaching to young aspirants. He began coaching in 1999 and was appointed as a boxing coach by the then Punjab Sports Director, Pargat Singh, during 2004-05.Before Bhupinder’s expected recruitment, 138 boxers from the centre had already secured jobs in various government departments. Over the past two decades, the Khalsa College Boxing Centre has produced more than 300 national-level and seven international-level boxers.