Everything was going well in Siddharth Singh’s life. After Doon School, Delhi University and University of St Andrews in Scotland, he got a well-paid job as regional business manager for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa with the Italian apparel brand Ellesse. It was a job that came with plenty of travel and a house at Hampstead Heath in London.

Yet Singh was restless. He liked his work, but what he really lived for happened after office hours, when he changed out of his suit and into shorts; stepped out of formal shoes and onto the mat barefoot.

Singh was introduced to combat sports at age 12, in boarding school, where he picked boxing. While studying in Scotland, he switched to Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing). Now, all day, he itched to get to his gym and lose himself in training.

Singh eventually quit the cushy career at 26, became a mixed-martial-arts (MMA) specialist, started a chain of training centres. And now, at 35, is India’s only elite-level international medallist in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). It all began in London, when a slim, lithe woman knocked him out.

globalcirculate.com (edited)