High jumper Pooja Singh, who broke her personal U-20 file and gained gold at Asian Athletics Championships 2025, reveals she carried out in South Korea with torn sneakers.
Pooja Singh, 18, recorded a soar of 1.89m to seize the highest place within the girls’s excessive soar closing on the current Asian Athletics Championships 2025.(Photo: Instagram/ the_jumpsquad)
For the 18-year-old excessive jumper’s dad and mom – who’ve celebrated each event be it large or small – this feat for India made them really feel “very proud”. Especially since her leap of 1.89m broke her personal U-20 nationwide file set final yr on the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships in Peru. Mention it, and the teenager responds with humility: “I didn’t celebrate too much because I had to return to my training.”
Pooja is a first-year faculty pupil pursuing bachelors in Physical Education and Sports. Being a sportsperson, she is cognisant of how fickle fame is. Long earlier than the medals and ensuing highlight, she had been coaching in dusty fields. “I used bamboo poles in place of proper crossbars. Sach kahun toh itne bade competition mein maine phate huye spikes par kinesiology tape laga kar khela tha,” she provides.
But nothing has ever appeared like an extenuating circumstance for this grounded woman. She displays: “What if my shoes were torn in this championship, or I have trained with bamboos in the past? Agar mere paas kuchh nahin hai toh uska matlab yeh nahin ki main life mein kuchh bada achieve nahin kar sakti! I believe in three things — hard work, discipline, and dedication — baaki sab sambhal jayega. There is no challenge in life that can or should stop me from achieving my dreams.”
Her steely conviction and quiet dedication additionally stem from her compass cum coach, Balwan Parta. “Mere coach mere parent hain, guide bhi, aur dost bhi. Main unse ladti hoon aur seekhti bhi hoon,” she shares with a smile, whereas crediting her coach for igniting inside her the fervour for this sport. Pooja provides, “My coach taught me that medals toh aate rahenge, but next jump aur high honi chahiye! Jo jeet liya woh ab peeche reh gaya. Now, the next target is to get back to training immediately and fulfil my ultimate dream — to win India another medal in the 2028 LA Olympics.”
