Vijay Kumar Yadav is an Indian judoka, who participates in the 60kg men’s category. On 1 August 2022, he won a bronze medal in judo 60kg category at the Commonwealth Games 2022.At the age of 7, he started his training in wrestling at a training centre in Lalpur, Varanasi. The wrestling training centre in his village was 22 km far from his home. He used to travel by cycle and sometimes took a lift to reach the training centre. He then continued his training in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.Vijay then attended Dr Sampurnanand Sports Stadium Sigra, Varanasi, for his training. Gradually, he started developing an interest in judo after watching other judo players practise at the training centre. At the centre, he met the Indian judo coach Kashi Naresh Yadav. In 2008, Naresh Yadav invited Vijay to a sports academy in Saharanpur and suggested Vijay to start his training in judo.His family’s financial condition was not good enough to provide him required diet as per the game, so Vijay moved to the hostel of the Sports Authority of India Center in Lucknow. During an interview, he talked about his family’s financial condition. He said, Our financial situation was not good it improved a little when my brother got a job in the Indian Army. Another brother is a bus driver. I have worked very hard to reach here. I have won several gold and silver medals in the all-India university championship as well as junior and senior national championships. I have also participated in the Asian Games and won gold in the Commonwealth judo championship in 2018 and 2019.”.Vijay spent a few years of his training at the Sports Authority of India, Bhopal unit.He then participated in various national and international judo tournaments including Asian Open in Hong Kong in 2018, Commonwealth Championships in Walsall in 2019, Budapest Grand Prix 2019, World Championships Senior 2019, and Tel Aviv Grand Slam 2021. During an interview, Vijay shared that he wanted to participate in Tokyo Olympics 2020, but he could not qualify. He said, It was the toughest time when I was not able to qualify for Tokyo Olympics 2020. Now, I am fully prepared to face any challenges. I will definitely win a gold medal in my first appearance in the Commonwealth Games. Getting gold in the Paris Olympics will be my next target. After winning a medal in the upcoming Commonwealth Games I will request the state government to give me a job so that I can continue with my practice without any financial constraint.” Vijay Kumar Yadav at Tel Aviv Grand Slam 2021.In August 2022, he defeated Cyprus’ Petros Christodoulides to win a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in the 60kg men’s category in judo.⁠.