In this short conversation, we talk to Beant Singh, who recently won gold in boys' 800m at the Asian Youth Athletics Championships, Doha - Qatar in a record time. In this interview with SBS Punjabi's Preetinder Grewal, Beant mentioned that he belongs to a Karnal based farmer family, and he couldn't even afford good shoes at the earlier stages of his practise run. Beant urged for more support from state and centre government so that player of his calibre can excel in international events. Preetinder Grewal reports…….
16-year-old Beant was in a class of his own in the two-lap event and strode to a comfortable victory, clocking 1.52.26, among the fastest times in the world this year in the youth category.
Beant revealed that wrestling was his initial love and he switched to athletics just a few years ago. He considers Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar as his hero!
Three years ago, Beant moved to Delhi for his athletic preparations. Beant had won a silver in the National Open Athletics Championships last year at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, his first senior national medal, in 800m with a time of 1:51:08 which was a new national record in the youth category.
"Next stop for me is the IAAF World Youth Championships in Cali. I have set big expectations. I want to beat the Indian national record there. I know I can run under 1:50. I have done it in training and I aim to run it at the championships," reports Hindustan Times.
