Inter-State Athletics Championships: From uncertain future to winning gold, life comes a full circle for Gurindervir

Gurindervir Singh had a point to prove. He did it in style to emerge as the fastest man on Indian tracks with a 10.32-second sprint to win the 100m on Day Two of the 63rd Inter-State Athletics Championships here on Friday, then let out a loud roar, egged on by a crowd of vocal supporters.

“There were quite a few who had said I was finished in the last two years, that I will not even go below 10.50 seconds, that there was nothing left in me. The celebration was not for the rest of the runners but those doubters,” Gurindervir admitted after the race.

The other runners in the field included the other two fastest men in the country at the moment – Animesh Kujur and Amlan Borgohain – and the duo duly completed the top-three in the event.

But while they were sporting enough, it was Gurindervir who was the most desperate to win.

“I have been training on my own for a while now in Jalandhar. I have my coach Sarabjit Singh Happy but no training partners. A competition like this is good because it pushes you to do better but getting such competitors in training is even more important. That is what actually helps get better and that is what I need now,” Gurindervir said.

It was not his best performance, not even close to his own meet record set in 2021 (10.27s, also his personal best), but the 23-year old was not disappointed.

Given the struggles he had been through to get back on the track, he felt it was only a matter of time before he was back in form.

“The mucous lining of my intestine was damaged soon after the inter-state meet in 2021. Nothing I ate helped, not even water. I lost eight kgs in 12 days. But for almost a year I did not even tell my family.

“It was only after my coach recommended his family doctor that things got better, with traditional medicines and herbs. It took almost two years to recover completely and get competition ready. I had done 10.90s over 110m in training. The weather today was not ideal but I am confident of going below 10.10s this year,” he declared.

There is also hope of better support. James Hillier, the sprints coach with Reliance Foundation, has promised him an outing to train with others after the Olympics – Kujur, Borgohain and national record holder Manikanta Hoblidhar.

“It will be good to train with them and a good group training together will also help our relay chances,” Gurindervir hoped.

In the 400m, Mohd. Anas Yahiya and Mohd. Ajmal had to be separated through photo finish after both clocked 45.93 seconds, Anas edging ahead 45.926 to Ajmal’s 45.939.

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Haryana’s Mohit Kumar continued his impressive performance, clocking a personal best of 46.15s to finish 3rd ahead of other national relay team members Amoj Jacob, Mijo Kurian and Noah Nirmal Tom.

Among the women, Sneha SS won the 100m while Kiran Pahal ran another scorching race, equalling her Thursday’s time of 50.92s to win by a comfortable margin.

In the men’s long jump, Jeswin Aldrin’s poor run continued, managing only a best of 7.32m in his final attempt to be 8th in the qualifying round.

Madhya Pradesh’s MP’s Krishna Sharma took top spot with 7.60m. In the absence of a recovering Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Uttarakhand’s Aniket was the best shot-putter with a 17.56m throw in the qualifying round.