Shot-putter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor has a Jalandhar connect

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 22

As Punjab’s shot-putter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (26) qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with an Asian and national record throw at the Indian Grand Prix 4 in Patiala on Monday, The Tribune takes a look at his Jalandhar connection.

Toor had started taking training under his coach Mohinder Singh Dhillon at Jalandhar Sports College in 2014. He was introduced to the coach by his paternal uncle who was also a sportsperson. The coaches have an eye for everything, they can recognise the talent in a player and then give it a new shape with their magical hands and same thing happened with Toor.

When Dhillon first met Toor, he found out that Toor had a good physique to be a sportsperson, but was comparatively low on strength. The coach started with rigorous training and there came a time when Toor surprised Dhillon and his uncle by developing great strength and would do number of bench press in a day, which was impossible for others to believe.

“I have always believed that if you are determined enough, you will achieve your goal and will surprise others,” said Dhillon, adding that during initial days, performance of Toor went down, but his hard work made him scale new heights.

While sharing another interesting fact about Toor, the coach said the shot-putter was always inclined towards javelin throw. “When Toor started, he used to share his love towards javelin throw,” he said.

Dhillon has been associated with Toor since long and provides him training at present as well. He said youngsters get motivated after players make it to Olympics.

“The Athletics Federation of India has been helping players to excel. It’s because of the efforts of the federation that even during the pandemic, events have been organised and our players got a chance to showcase their talent,” said Dhillon.