Road to Rio: Gurmeet Singh, the dark horse in 20km race walk at Olympics

Name: Gurmeet Singh

Age: 31

Discipline: Athletics

Category: 20km race walk

Qualification: Gurmeet clocked 1:21:24.57 to clinch the gold on the first day of the 2016 National Championships on Friday and also qualified for Rio Olympics 2016 bettering the qualification mark set at 1 hour and 24 minutes.

Strengths: Gurmeet Singh’s steady yet noticeable rise is all down to his dedication. In a long, grueling sport like race walking, dedication and perseverance counts for plenty. From watching little TV for entertainment, to entering late at the mess, Gurmeet showcases a lot of it on a day-to-day basis and it aids him in his sport

Past Olympic performance: Finished 33rd in the 20km race walk event at the 2012 London Olympics with a timing of 1:23:34

Past record (best performances):  Gold medal in the Asian 20 km race walk championship finishing 1 hour 20 minutes and 29 seconds in Mar 2016. That was the first time in 34 years that an Indian won a gold in either an Asian championship or Asian Games event.

Rio Prospects: Gurmeet didn’t come close to a medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, but since has taken big strides in the sport. A gold medal in the Asian Athletics Championships would have boosted his morale and he is a dark horse for India in the 20km race walk event.

Gurmeet Singh hails from a small village in Uttarakahand and comes from a sport-loving family. His cousin Surjit Singh, a discus thrower, was Gurmeet’s source of inspiration for taking up sports as a career. As a youngster, he made good progress and won a silver medal in his debut appearance at the junior nationals in 2000. In 2001, he tasted success for the first time on the international stage, finishing fifth in the Junior Asian Championship at Brunei.

After winning gold medals in 2008 Federation Cup and 2009 National Championship, Gurmeet Singh’s career went through a dip while he was a part of the National Institute of Sports in Patiala, but was under the Sports Authority of India (SAI)’s Excellence Scheme. He was considered insincere, useless and lacking in focus, until he met coach Ramakrishnan Gandhi and moved to Bangalore to train under him.

This was the turning point of Gurmeet’s career and there was remarkable improvement in him. The results proved it as he became the first Indian athlete to qualify for the 20km race walk event at Olympics after more that two decades. He didn’t win a medal in London, but has continuously improved since then.

Gurmeet met his soulmate in the sport. Deepmala Devi, a Manipuri girl who is also a race walker met Gurmeet during his time in Patiala. However, it is learnt that they choose to stay in different hostels when at SAI centres.

Now the only gold medalist at an Asian Championship or Asian Games in the race walk category, Gurmeet heads into his second Olympics with a lot more confidence but importantly with a stern resolve of winning his country a medal - which according to his recent form isn’t as distant as it was four years ago.