On Saturday (August 25), Indian shot put player Tejinderpal Singh Toor won a Gold medal in ongoing 2018 Asian Games, hosting by Jakarta-Palembang. After winning that medal, Tejinder revealed that initially he wanted to become a cricketer but he has the different destiny to make proud of his country.
In the ‘Men’s shot put’ event, the 23-year-old Punjab boy threw the iron ball to the record 20.75 metres distance and bagged the highest medal in this competition. It is the new record in Asian Games history as well as the national record too. The previous Asian Games record was 20.57 metres by the Saudi Arabian Sultan Al-Hebshi (during the 2010 Asian Games at Guangzhou). On the other hand, the previous national record was 20.69 metres by Om Prakash Karhana.
Since 2002 (Bahadur Singh Sagoo), Tejinder becomes the first Indian shot putter to win the Gold medal in the men’s shot put event in the Asian Games. In the Asian Games history, India has now won eight Gold medals in the men’s shot put event.
Coming to Saturday’s event, China’s Liu Yang won the Silver medal (distance 19.52) and Kazakhstan’s Ivan Ivanov clinched the Bronze medal (distance 19.40).
After winning the medal, Tejinder said that he wanted to become a cricketer as he initially used to play that game for his village teams before his father decided to follow his uncle, who was also a shot-putter.
Talking about his cricket journey, Tejinder said, “When I moved from cricket to athletics, throwing with the left hand came naturally to me. It was my stronger arm, and the action was smoother than most righties.
“I used to be an opening batsman playing for teams in my village. Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh were my favourites.”
Then he spoke about his father’s wish and credited his father for this Gold medal.
Tejinder said on that, “He wanted me to play an individual sport. I wasn’t so sure, but today I have won an Asiad gold, so he was right.”
His father is battling from the Stage IV cancer and currently, he is undergoing the necessary treatment. Tejinder was broken down after returning from the 2018 Commonwealth Games that was hosted by Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) in this April. He was almost going to miss this Asian Games as he didn’t want to leave his father at present condition. He dedicates the latest Gold medal to his father and said that his father’s condition has shown very little improvement.
Tejinder said about his father’s condition, “He’s getting better with treatment. It’s very little improvement, but maybe this medal will help.”
