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The Hindu
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Pooja, 18, leaps into history as India's youngest Asian Champion, aims even higher
India, with eight gold medals, has already registered its best performance abroad with one day of competitions yet to go underway at the Asian Athletics Championships. There's been a double gold in men's 5,000m and 10,000m, the 4x400m women's and mixed relay sides have triumphed, and Avinash Sable has won in the men's 3000m steeplechase. Additionally, Nandini Agasara won the women's heptathlon, and Jyothi Yarraji conquered the women's 100m hurdles. But of all the medals won so far, perhaps none are as impressive as the one won by Pooja in the women's high jump. 'The greatest performance from an Indian perspective at AAC2025 in Gumi for me is Pooja's,' Tejaswin Shankar, national record holder in men's high jump and decathlon and a silver medallist at this year's Asian Championships, posted on X. At just 18, Pooja, from Bosti village in Haryana's Fatehbad district cleared a new personal best of 1.89m to beat a quality field and become India's youngest ever Asian champion. It's a result that took even national coach Radhakrishnan Nair by surprise. He said, 'I thought she would improve on her personal best (1.85m), but I wasn't thinking she would win the gold,' he said after the event. Tough challenge Pooja had no illusions of the challenge she was up against, even a day ahead of the women's high jump event at the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships. All but one of the 13 other competitors was older than her. Many were far more accomplished, too. Pooja had jumped a personal best of 1.85m at last month's Open athletics meet in Nadiad. Five of her opponents had better jumps than that. For the favourites, one would probably have been looking at two-time Olympian Nadezhda Dubovitskaya of Kazakhstan, who had a personal best clearance of 2m. Uzbekistan's Safina Sadulaeva had a personal best of 1.97m and had made the final of the Paris Olympics last year. Nagisa Takahashi of Japan and Yelizaveta Matveyeva of Kazakhstan both had made clearances of 1.92m. There was plenty going wrong as well. During her first practice session in Gumi, Pooja ripped her jumping cleats. She patched the tear as best she could with medical tape but there was no guarantee of the repair job lasting long. Pooja continued to train in her old, torn kicks (in picture) ahead of the continental competition in Gumi. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Despite everything, Pooja wasn't nervous at all. 'Neither of us were nervous,' says 38-year-old Balwan Singh who has coached her from the time she first started to jump as a 10 year old. 'Before the competition, I texted her to remind her 'no one expects you to win. So just go have fun. If you do your best, you will win,' he says. Pooja started with a clearance at 1.70m and made successful jumps at 1.75 and 1.80m. She brought down the bar once at 1.83m before clearing it on the second attempt, and then repeated the sequence at 1.86m, which itself was a new personal best and a new Indian junior national record. With the bar set to 1.89m, just four competitors were left. 'At that point, my only thought was that I shouldn't finish fourth,' she says. That wouldn't happen. Pooja made the jump in her very first attempt and then watched all of her more storied opponents fail their three attempts. ' Unko uda dia! (I blew them away)' she would excitedly tell Balwan after the competition. Pooja, having secured the crown, went for the national record of 1.92m, set by Sahana Kumari in 2012. Those watching live – the field events at the Asian Championships on Friday weren't broadcast anywhere – say she came very close, barely grazing the bar in her last attempt. 'I could have got it. I nearly got it,' she complained later. READ: Asian Athletics Championships 2025, Medals Tally: India continues in second place with eight golds after day four Coach Balwan says 1.92 was probably too much at this point of time for her. 'At the start of the year, I had a target for her of jumping 1.90m. She would have actually gone for 1.90m but her shoe was torn and we weren't sure if it would last all those jumps,' he says. While Pooja might be disappointed at the miss at 1.92, it's impressive enough that Pooja's made it as far as she already has. Where she was born and raised, it's not easy being a woman. The female literacy rate is only around 46 per cent. But Pooja is blessed with supportive parents. Her father Hansraj, who had hopes of becoming a kabaddi player himself, had to work as a mason to support his family. When Pooja showed enthusiasm towards sport, he supported her. She trained for two years as a yoga athlete and then, spotting her natural athleticism and flexibility, coach Balwant Singh, who runs a private academy out of the government school in the neighbouring village of Parta, started to train her as a high jumper. Impressive rise How well the partnership of Balwant and Pooja has worked out is nothing short of a miracle. He was a former 800m runner himself and had never coached or competed in the high jump. The academy where Pooja trained barely had any equipment. 'We didn't have a jump mat. So, we filled sacks with agricultural waste (mostly rice husk) and jumped on that,' she recalls. Her parents and coach's support somewhat made up for the lack of facilities. Her father would sometimes take loans to send her to competitions while Balwan would chip in with funds for diet if the family ran short. Her talent was precocious and Pooja was making a name for herself in Indian track and field circles from 2023 itself, when as a 16-year-old she won a gold at the Asian Youth Championships with a then Youth National record of 1.82m. She's improved steadily since then. 'When she did 1.82m for the first time at the Asian Championships, she was at the start of her growth as a jumper. The challenge for her has been to maintain it and not have any drop offs in performance. I'm proud that we have managed this. She's been very regular with her training. She doesn't miss any workouts,' says Balwan. Indeed at the Asian Championships, Balwan was expecting an improvement in her personal best at the very least. 'When she jumped 1.82m ( at the Asian U-18 championships) she was jumping around 1.65m and 1.70m in practice. In two years her practice jumps have increased to 1.80m. I had actually told her before she left that if she stayed focussed and jumped to her potential, she would jump 1.88m,' he says. ALSO READ: Heptathlon explained: Events, order, points system, records The potential loss of focus for Pooja, who was only going to her second senior international competition ( she had previously competed at the 2023 Asian Championships) wasn't a trivial concern. When you think about all she's accomplished already, it's easy to forget Pooja is still very much a kid. 'I might be the champion, but behind it, I'm still a kid. I'm equally naughty as well,' she'd say after the competition. But any chance of tomfoolery were nipped soon enough. Being the youngest in the Indian team, Pooja had plenty of her seniors looking out for her. 'I can't say enough good things about Tejaswin Shankar. He really looked out for her. Even though he had his own event, he was giving her a lot of advice during her training. (high jumper) Sarvesh Kusare was also guiding her. They'd make sure to connect me on the phone with her. Everyone in the team was really helpful,' says Balwan. Higher goals Perhaps they know just what a prospect Pooja is as well. With a jump of 1.89m and the Asian Championship gold under her belt, Pooja is looking to clear bigger obstacles. As her target heights increase, the challenge will get harder for her. At 1.70cm tall, Pooja is relatively small for a high jumper. (the shortest of the finalists at the Paris Olympics were Uzbek Safina Sadullayeva and France's Nawal Meniker – both of whom are 178cm tall. None of the others are shorter than 181cm). Coach Balwan refuses to think that physical limitation will keep her down. 'There was an American high jumper (Inika) McPherson who was only 163cm tall and she jumped 1.96m. And there was (Olympic men's high jump champion) Stefan Holm who was very short (1.81cm) for a men's high jumper. So, it is possible,' he says. Pooja will continue to jump as high as she can. She'll be competing at the World University Games in July and coach Balwan says her next big goal will be to compete and medal at the Junior World Championships next year. But Pooja is dreaming even bigger. 'My target is the next Olympic Games. It's my dream to qualify and win a gold there,' she says.
India Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- India Today
Asian Athletics: 18-year-old Pooja wins high jump gold, golden double for Gulveer
India continued its medal-winning spree at the Asian Athletics Championships. On Day 4 of the continental track and field meet, the nation secured three gold medals, bringing its total to 18 and firmly consolidating its position in second place on the medal table, behind China. The highlight of the day came when 18-year-old Pooja set a new personal best to clinch gold in the women's high jump. It marked the first time since 2000 that an Indian athlete had topped the podium in this event at the Asian Athletics Championships. Meanwhile, Gulveer Singh completed a remarkable double, claiming the 5000m gold with a championship record just days after winning gold in the 10,000m. Notably, it was Gulveer who had opened India's gold medal tally on Day 1 of the competition in Gumi, South Korea. Pooja secured gold with a best effort of 1.89m, a personal milestone. She initially failed to clear 1.83m and 1.86m on her first attempts, but, aware that a height beyond 1.86m was needed for gold, she soared over 1.89m on her very first try. Pooja then attempted to set a new national record, raising the bar to 1.92m for her final jump, but narrowly missed out. Nevertheless, the teenager revelled in her golden moment, arms flung in the air and disbelief etched across her face. Uzbekistan's Safina Sadullaeva won silver with 1.86m while Kazakhstan's Yelizaveta won bronze. It was Pooja's first major medal at the senior level. She won a gold medal in the Asian U18 Championships in Tashkent to grab the spotlight at the highest level. Pooja hails from a humble background, with her father, Hansraj, working as a construction worker or mason. Despite financial constraints, Pooja's early athletic career began with gymnastics before transitioning to high jumping under the guidance of Coach Balwan Singh. Tejaswin Shankar, who won silver in Decathlon, called Pooja's gold medal the greatest achievement by an Indian at the Asian Athletics Championships. "The greatest performance from an Indian perspective at AAC2025 in Gumi for me is Pooja's," he said. GULVEER JOINS ELITE LIST Gulveer shattered a decade-old meet record in men's 5000m. The national-record-holding runner clocked 13:24.77sec to edge past Thailand's Kieran Tuntivate, who finished close behind at 13:24.97sec, while Japan's Nagiya Mori took bronze in 13:25.06s. The previous championship record belonged to Qatar's Mohamed Al-Garni, who had clocked 13:34.47 in the 2015 edition. With this performance, Gulveer became only the second Indian in the history of the Asian Athletics Championships to win the men's 5,000m and 10,000m double after G Lakshmanan in 2017. He also joined an elite group of Indian athletes to have won gold in the men's 5000m event of the continental meet -- the other three being Gopal Saini (1981), Bahadur Prasad (1993), and G Lakshmanan (2017). (With PTI Inputs)
