Asian U-20 Athletics: Bharatpreet wins gold
Aakanksha N Bhardwaj
Jalandhar, June 6
Bharatpreet Singh’s mother broke down several times while talking to this reporter about her son’s win at the 20th Asian U-20 Athletics Championship. “It is because of him I am able to walk with pride today,” she expressed as she talked to the correspondent over the phone from Batala. Summarising her entire life journey in one line, she said in her life no one called her on phone, and now everyone wants to talk to her and wants to know her life story because of her son. “I never existed for anybody. Life has been very tough. I thank my son for bringing cheers in my life,” she said.
Nineteen-year-old Bharatpreet has won a gold medal at the championship which is taking place at Yecheon, South Korea. Bharatpreet’s father died when he was just eight- years-old. He belongs to a financially humble family.
Rajni, mother of the young champion, shared that due to her poor family background, she could not study and become what she actually wanted to become. “I loved studying, but fate had other plans for me. The day Bharat was born, I was sure that I would not let him face what I had faced. He was always very intelligent. But I knew that I could not afford to make him a doctor, engineer, or a lawyer. So, looking at his passion for sports, I wanted him to become a gazetted officer through sports,” the emotional mother said.
Bharatpreet started learning discus throw in Batala. Around four years ago, he came to Jalandhar and started training at PIS centre, Jalandhar, under coach Baldeep Singh.
Baldeep Singh shared, “Having physical fitness is one thing, but having the ability to learn and grasp everything quickly and obeying to the coach is the quality of a strong mind and great mental health and Bharatpreet always had that.”
The proud coach further added, “The moment he won and gave me a call, I told him that this was just a beginning and there was a long way to go. He should always remain humble and grounded.”
Another coach Bikramjit Singh also congratulated the champion and said that it was a great day for sports.
