Inter-State Athletics Championships: Tajinderpal Singh Toor says no celebration after setting new Asian record

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Tajinderpal Singh Toor's name was written all over the final day of the Inter-State Athletics Championships when India's leading shot putter put daylight between his continent rivals with a massive 21.77 metre ahead of this year's Asian Games.

The massive effort by Tajinderpal Singh Toor saw him not just rewrite the Asian and the national record but book his spot in the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August as he breached the Asian Games.

In addition, the reigning Asian Games champion is now more than a metre away from his nearest rival in the continent, making him the favourite to retain his title in Huangzhou in October. Such an effort calls for a celebration but the 28-year-old shot putter only had tears in his eyes as he remembered her grandmother, who passed away three days ago.

"There can't be any celebration, I just lost my grandmother," said Toor to the reporters soon after winning the gold medal at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. "She was the first thing on my mind after I broke the record that she won't get to know that his boy has done something that will make her proud and I couldn't hold my tears."

Toor, who serves the Indian navy and represented Punjab at the Inter-State Championships, dedicated the medal to his grandmother as he recalled how his grandmother often provided the once-struggling athlete financial assistance.

"This medal is for her. She would have been glad to know that I did it because she was always proud of me taking up sports. She was based in Canada and would often send me money before I was recruited by Indian navy," said the athlete, who will next compete at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok in July.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor has endured troubles throughout his career with the wrist injury forcing his ouster from the World Championships and Commonwealth Games last year. The wrist injury came at a time when Toor made his first 21-plus jump at an Indian Grand Prix in 2021. His 21.49 throw was the first time the multiple national record holder made the Asian record his own. The setbacks, however, never worried Toor.

"Life never is easy, I have experienced several ups and downs. I just have to keep going knowing that god is always with me when I need him and aage bhi whi rasta dikhaega (he will keep showing me the way)," he said.