Inderjeet Singh: India's champion athlete who refuses to quit

Indrajeet Singh

India’s No. 1 shot putter, Inderjeet Singh, has been a true fighter in life. Given the circumstances he has faced, any other man in his place would probably have given up on sports.

Even after winning a silver medal in the prestigious ‘World University Games’, which is second only to an Olympic medal, he was still an unknown face in his own country. But thanks to his recent bronze medal at the Incheon Asian Games, he has grabbed quite a lot of eyeballs.

Singh is now preparing to make it big at the Rio Olympics 2016, and is being supported by India’s first athlete-only crowdfunding platform, India For Sports.

“When I won India’s first medal at the World University Games in 2013, which is considered second only to an Olympic medal, I thought I had created history and I would be welcomed with open arms in my country. To my surprise, things were exactly the same as they were before the championship. Now that I have a bronze in Asian Games, things are a little better. But I won’t rest until I get India its first Olympic medal in track and field and India For Sports has been a great support for me in that,” Singh said.

After Singh’s father died in 2007, his mother and brother supported him with everything that they could. They sold two family shops and took huge loans to support him. But to truly compete with some of the world’s best in the game, Indian athletes have to match their regime, hard work, fitness, training and diet. There is no dearth of hard work and grit, but Singh has been somehow making do with the lack of diet supplements and equipment somehow.

With 150 kg body weight and 6’ 4.5” height, Inderjeet struggles every day to take enough supplements and nutrients to maintain his training regime. This is more so given the fact that a jar of diet supplements which costs Rs. 7,000-8,000 does not last more than 4-5 days for him.

Secondly, Singh is infamous among the local gyms for accidently breaking their equipment. He is not at fault for that; given his build and the intensity with which he is required to train in order to compete with world-class shot putters, he needs world-class equipment, which he hardly finds in the local gyms.

Before the Asian Games, India For Sports arranged some mental conditioning and nutrition sessions for Singh which, according to him, played a big role for him in keeping his cool during the high pressure situation at Incheon.

“At Incheon, the conditions were unpleasant as it was raining and my body was finding it tough to acclimatize to the cold. Due to this, I could not warm up properly. To add to my misery, I was without my coach, had to carry my heavy bags nearly 3 km to reach to the ground. In that scenario, if I was able to keep my nerves calm and remain focused on the event and finally clinch bronze, it was because of those mental conditioning sessions conducted by IFS in India,” Singh shared.

We all have seen what Singh can do. There is still time before the Olympics, and if the people of this country step up, no fort is unconquerable. Singh needs a sum of Rs. 5 lakh to fund his dietary requirements and buy state-of-the-art training equipment. He has already managed to arrange a sum of Rs. 2 lakh and requests the support of the crowd through ‘India For Sports’ for the remaining Rs. 3 lakh.

Helping Singh compete at his best in the Rio Olympics is India For Sports’ aim. Support Inderjeet by visiting his campaign page.

Visit India For Sports’ website, Facebook and Twitter page to meet other sports enthusiasts and support Indian athletes.