Tribune News Service
Indervir Grewal
Chandigarh, February 14
Akshdeep Singh’s first foray into race walk came at the suggestion of Gurdev Singh, a former international race walker and national coach.
My gold and qualifying for the Worlds Championships and Olympics was not a surprise for me as I was training for that goal. I was confident about doing it. Now, I will prepare well and try to give world-class performances in the Olympics and World Championships. …there is still one-and-a-half years to go — Akshdeep Singh
Priyanka set for Paris Games
National record holder Priyanka Goswami won the women’s 20km gold at the National Open Race Walking Championships and qualified for both the World Championships and the Paris Olympics. Uttar Pradesh’s Priyanka won the gold with a time of 1:28:50, well inside the qualifying time of 1:29:20.
A 16-year-old failing to make much headway in the 800 metres event, Akshdeep sought the help of Gurdev, who coaches at the Punjab Institute of Sports’ Patiala centre. Gurdev’s advice for Akshdeep was to change his event to race walk. Akshdeep resisted initially, and it took Gurdev two months to convince the youngster to take up race walking.
Seven years later, Akshdeep has not only become the national record holder in the 20km event but also punched his ticket for the World Championships and the Paris Olympics. The 23-year-old today won gold at the National Open Race Walking Championships in Ranchi in a record-breaking time of 1 hour, 19 minutes and 55 seconds.
Akshdeep not only bettered the previous national record of 1:20:16 set by Haryana’s Sandeep Kumar but also finished under the qualifying mark of 1:20:10 for August’s World Championships and next year’s Olympics.
Quick rise
Akshdeep, who belongs to Kahneke village in Barnala, was encouraged towards sports by his farmer father. The goal was to eventually get a job in the army. However, Akshdeep’s beginning in athletics was not very promising. “He used to run 800m but was not very good at it,” said Gurdev, who is in Ranchi with Akshdeep. “Someone sent him to me and I suggested he change his event to race walk. He did not have the speed for an 800m runner. He resisted for two months before I convinced him to try it once,” he added.
Akshdeep made remarkably quick progress — within two years, he became the junior national champion, winning the under-20 gold in the 10km event at the 2018 National Race Walking Championship in 43 minutes, 4.65 seconds. Later that year, he set the U-20 national record (40:47.78) in the same event.
At 20, he made an impressive start to his senior career with a 12th place finish in a personal best time of 1:26:12 at the 2020 National Race Walking Championships. A year later, he was called for the national camp, where he has been training with coach Tatiana Sibileva, a former Olympian for Russia, since last year.
Training with the best has helped Akshdeep, who recently joined the Navy, grow by leaps and bounds. Last year, he won gold at the Khelo India University Games for Punjabi University and silver at the Indian Open Race Walking Competition with a personal best time of 1:23:14. Having managed to cut his personal best by over three minutes in a year, Akshdeep is ready to take on the world. “He works very hard. That is the reason why he has risen to the top at such a young age. The national camp has helped him improve a lot as well. I am confident he will impress at the world level as well,” Gurdev said.
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