Vijender competed at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, in the welterweight division, but lost to Mustafa Karagollu of Turkey by a score of 20–25. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, he defeated England's Neil Perkins in the semifinal but lost to South Africa's Bongani Mwelase in the final, thus leaving with a silver medal. He decided to move up in weight and Vijender took part in the middleweight (75 kg) division at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, where he won the bronze medal in a lost semifinal bout against Kazakhstan's Bakhtiyar Artayev with the final score of 24–29. Initially Vijender was not supposed to compete because of a back injury, but he recovered in time to win the tournament and qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.