Tajinder Pal Singh Breaks Record and Wins Gold

Jakarta, 25th August: India brought home its 7th Gold Medal of the ongoing 2018 Asian Games, as Tajinder Pal Singh won the country’s first medal in Athletics in the international event. Not just did he make the country proud by this achievement, but also broke some astonishing records.

Like most of us would’ve been enjoying the weekend, Singh was doing the same, finishing first in the men’s Shot Put final in Jakarta on Saturday. Tajinder Pal Singh Toor also went on to set an Indian national record. Not just that, his throw went on to become an Asian Games record as well.

He set this new Games record in the men’s shot put, with a throw of 20.75 meters in his fifth attempt. The previous record was of 20.57 meters, set by Aboulmajeed Alhabashi of Saudi Arabia, in the 2010 Asian Games in Guanghzhou, China. It was an easy win for Singh, with China’s Liu Yang finishing a distant second, with his season’s best throw of 19.52 meters.

Tajinder Pal Singh

While it was India’s 7th gold medal of this edition of the Asian Games, it became their 8th overall medal in men’s shot put. Toor was a high favourite and the 23-year old from Punjab saved his best for last, smashing the record on his fifth throw. Tajinder is in Indonesia at the Games, leaving a sick father behind, who is battling with cancer. Surely, one proud father will be smiling in Punjab today.

What followed later in the day was a hat-trick of bronze medals for India in squash. In the men’s singles, Saurav Ghosal lost his semi-final game, while Indians were a part of both semi-finals in the women’s singles, with both of Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa ending a good run and winning bronze medals for losing in the semi-finals.

Check out that record-breaking throw here:

For all latest updates on the 2018 Asian Games, visit Sports Team of India.

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