When Punjab-born Gurindervir Singh was not yet in his teens, he got fascinated with sports while cleaning the house before Diwali. There were several medals and trophies and pictures of his father smashing a volleyball and he would just keep staring at them.
Hi father, Kamaljeet Singh, a retired police officer and former volleyball player, recalled that one of the first coaches to train Gurindervir when he was in class 6 old him that his son would emerge as one of India’s top athletes.
“I was told I would have to spend money if Gurindervir wanted to become a player and I was ready to do anything, even if it was beyond my means,” Kamaljeet told the media. The young lad got admission at the Guru Nanak Mission school at Dalla near Jalandhar in Punjab, but lack of funds meant he had to go running for more than a dozen kilometres daily to reach school in all kinds of weather.
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On May 23, at the Federation Cup in Ranchi, Jharkhand, Gurindervir Singh, now 25, broke the 100m national record, emerging as the first Indian to breach the 10.10s limit, and winning the event in 10.09s.
In the first semifinal a day earlier, he ran 10.17s, beating Animesh Kujur’s 10.18s record; in the second semifinal, the latter sprinted back at a faster 10.15s. But on Saturday, Gurindervir did it in 10.09s, giving hopes for an athletics medal for India in the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in July.
Task is not finished yet
After winning the national record, Gurindervir flashed a message for the cameras: “Task is not finished yet. 10.10. Wait. I am still standing.” Later, speaking to the media, he said: “People say a lot of things on social media. This message was to remind myself that I am here to perform and improve. Since I started 100m at the age of six or seven, people used to say that there is no future in 100m, take up 400m or something else. Indians don’t have the genes for 100m, they said. I wanted to prove all of them wrong and show that Indians can do well in the 100m.”
Gurindervir’s stunning performance saw other sports superstars praising him. “Incredibly proud of Gurindervir Singh for becoming the fastest Indian ever. What a phenomenal achievement. Keep sprinting ahead, champion!” cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar posted on X.
James Hillier, athletics director at the Reliance Foundation, Mumbai, where Gurindervir trains, told reporters that in 2022 when he was first approached by the runner, he had a lot of health issues. Hillier told Gurindervir to regain his health before he could start training. “When he first started working with us, I saw a guy who was too heavy and had too much muscle. He was kind of muscling his way down the track. But he was carrying all that extra weight, which was causing him to get injured.”
And when Animesh took back the national record from Gurindervir on Friday, Hillier told him to shun social media for a day. “The goal was to keep Guri calm for the next 24 hours. I asked him to stay away from social media and his phone. I didn’t want to hype anything and wanted to protect him for those 24 hours,” he told the media.
Source: Khaleej Times