City’s Arpinder jumps to gold at Asian games

Ludhiana: City’s star athlete, Arpinder Singh, a product of Punjab Institute of Sports (PIS) training centre Ludhiana, has bagged gold medal in the triple jump event at 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, held at Turkistan from September 18 to 20.

While Arpinder recorded a jump of 16.21m to win gold, Tepparak Pratchaya from Thailand bagged silver with a jump of 16.12 meters in the final round of the triple jump event.

Arpinder was the only player from the city who had qualified for the international event after giving his best in the national trials conducted by the Athletic Federation of the India in August.

He had won bronze medal in Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. He also won gold medal in Kazakhstan National Athletics Championship in July.

Talking to TOI over, Arpinder said, “It was my second international gold in three months. It would certainly help my confidence and practice for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.”

He said coach S S Pannu has been training him for the past eight years. “I have won several gold medals in the past six years. Even in 2014, I had represented India at Glasgow International Athletic Championship and secured a bronze. Now I am confidant of winning a gold medal in upcoming Commonwealth Games. My ultimate aim is to win a gold in the Olympics.”

S S Pannu, Arpinder’s coach, said, “This gold is reflection of his hard work. Arpinder had also secured a national record in 2014 at Junior National Federation Cup which hasn’t been broken so far.”