Sigyel Phub

Phub, a former soldier, represented the Royal Bhutan Army during his amateur career.[4][1]

In 2010, Phub won a bantamweight silver medal at the South Asian Games in Dhaka, defeating Sri Lankan representative Kamal Sameera in the semi-finals before losing to Naimatullah of Pakistan in the finals.[5] Later that year he reached the quarterfinals at the Asian Games in Guangzhou despite nursing a hand injury,[1] becoming one of the "main sensations" of the event after his two surprise wins.[6][7] For his performances, he was nominated for Bhutanese sportsperson of the year by Tshering Tobgay.[8] He also won a bronze medal at the 2011 President's Cup in Indonesia,[1] notably beating future Olympic medallist Satoshi Shimizu in the round of 16.[9] Phub competed in the bantamweight event of the 2013 World Championships in Almaty. In his first bout, he defeated Belarusian opponent Dzmitry Sapon on a 3–0 decision.[10] However, despite being "extremely focused and always operating from a high guard," Phub was defeated in his second match by Veaceslav Gojan.[11] His final major tournament was the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, where he was upset in his first bout by Nadir Baloch of Pakistan.[3]

After retirement, Phub worked as a coach with the national team.[7] In 2016 he opened Bhutan's first private boxing club, the Druk Thimphu Boxing Club, using Changlimithang Stadium as its training center.[4] Phub drove a taxicab in Thimphu to fund the club's expenses, accomplishing his dream of providing civilians an opportunity to learn the sport.[4] By July of that year, he had 30 members, both male and female, training at his club.[12] In 2018, nine of his boxers were selected to compete at the national championships in Phuntsholing, winning two gold and six silvers medals in the club's debut.[13] It was the first time since the inception of the Bhutan Boxing Federation, over three decades prior, that civilians took part in the competition.[13]

Phub returned to competition at the 2019 national championships in Thimphu, winning the welterweight gold medal.[7] He also competed at the 2019 India Open soon thereafter, moving down to light welterweight for the event.[14]

• Profile at Olympics.com
• Sigyel Phub at The-Sports.org