Pooja Singh is a special talent who bagged the silver medal at the Asian Junior Championships in Yecheon on June 6 after clearing a height of 1.82m.
The 16-year-old hails from a modest background and her father Hansraj Singh works as a mason at a construction site. Despite the frugal means, Hansraj has never shackled the dreams of his daughter and instead backed her with every penny so that her dreams could take flight.
The 1.82m is the third-best in the U-18 category in the world this year and is also the best score by any Indian woman this year.
How did Pooja take to high jump?
Hansraj wanted to be a kabaddi player but could not pursue his dream due to financial plight. However, he always pushed her daughter to be an athlete and took her to the neighbouring Parta village in the Fatehabad district where Balwan Singh taught yoga on the premises of a government school.
Balwan was himself an 800m runner but could not progress far. However, as a coach, he has produced many athletes who are doing well in track and field events at the national level.
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Pooja started out with yoga and after a year, Balwan asked her to try high jump.
“After about a year, I tried to see if she had the ability to do anything else. She was very flexible already because she was doing chakrasana and dhanurasana (yoga poses in which the body is arched to resemble a wheel and a bow, respectively). I felt she had a lot of spring in her step, so, I thought I would test her in the high jump,” he told Sportstar.
Without proper equipment, she began by landing on a judo mat which was later replaced with sacks of rice husk to make the landing a bit more comfortable. The springboard was an old rubber tyre and the pole was made out of bamboo.
“Agar bar ko touch karte ho toh peeth chhil jati hai (If you touch the bamboo pole while jumping, your back gets skinned),” stated Pooja.
Despite the difficulties, Pooja was a quick learner and soon began winning state-level competitions. She also won gold in the U-14 girls’ category with a jump of 1.41m and despite coming back from a quadriceps injury she set a new national record of 1.76m to claim the yellow metal in the U-16 category as well.
What next for Pooja Singh?
Her performance in Yeheon has helped her meet the qualification mark for the Asian Championships in Thailand. Moreover, she is also eligible for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad.
Her jump in Yecheon helped her set a new junior record in India. Can she take a step further and break Sahana Kumari’s national record of 1.92m set in 2012 in the upcoming tournaments? Impossible is nothing for the teenage sensation!