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What's the story?
India's star athlete Arpinder Singh bagged the gold medal in men's triple jump at the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) inter-unit athletics meet that is organized by the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL).
The background
Arpinder Singh is best known for winning a gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. The 27-year-old had won the yellow metal after a best jump of 16.77 m. In the process, he became only the second-ever Indian to win a gold in the event. Previously, only Mohinder Singh Gill had won gold way back at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok.
His other achievements include bagging the bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, a gold at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, and a bronze at the 2018 IAAF Continental Cup in Ostrava.
The heart of the matter
At the inter-unit athletics meet, Arpinder's leap of 15.70m was sufficient for him to bag a gold medal. The Asian Games gold medallist, who has a personal best of 17.17m, is still quite far from securing a berth for the Olympics. Singh is currently ranked 68th in the world and will need to break into the Top 30 in the coming few months in order to secure an Olympic quota.
Here are the athletics results from the Inter-unit meet (as per TNIE):
Men's 1500m - Sree Kiran (ONGC, 3.56.28), Anuj Kumar (ONGC, 3.57.37), Sashi Bhusan Singh (OIL, 3.57.98)
Men's Triple jump - Arpinder Singh (ONGC, 15.70m), M Asadullah (HPCL, 15.05m), Ramandip Gogoi (OIL, 11.75m)
Men's Pole Vault - Kuladeep Deka (AOD, 2.30m), Mohendra Sonowar (OIL, 2.30m), T Heorge Karmakar (AOD, 2.10m)
Men's 110m hurdles - Siddhanth Thingalaya (ONGC, 14.63), Gurindeer Singh (ONGC, 16.37), Nipu Kalita (AOD, 19.65)
Men's High jump - Ramandip Gogoi (OIL, 1.48m), Nitul Bora (ONGC, 1.45m), Srimanto Boro (NRL, 1.45m)
Men's 4x100m relay - ONGC, 43.80s; HPCL, 44.75s; OIL, 47.73
Women's 200m - Jauna Murmu (ONGC, 27.54), Sini A Markose (ONGC, 34.38), Sharmila V (CPCL, 41.3s)
What's next?
Arpinder Singh will be preparing to bring out his best in order to get a chance to represent the nation at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He is India's best hope to qualify for the Triple Jump event.
Also see | Tokyo Olympics 2020: India's biggest medal prospects in shooting events | Part 2
