Vijender Singh, 35, became a path-breaker when he won India’s first Olympic medal in boxing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But had it not been for another path-breaker—Dingko Singh—he might not have gone on to achieve such unprecedented success.

Dingko, 42, who lost his battle with liver cancer at his home in Imphal on Thursday, was Vijender’s first hero in the sport. In fact, Dingko’s gold medal-winning feat [54 kg category] at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games—a first in 16 years—is referred to as the first wave that led to Indian boxing’s tsunami of international medals thereafter.