From Taiwan to Tumkur: Parth Singh chases U20 Worlds dream

KOLKATA: Last time Parth Singh competed in India, he took everyone by surprise sprinting to victory in the 100m event in U20 category in 10.52 seconds at the National Junior Athletic Championships in Bhubaneswar last year.
Even in the semis he ran a personal best time of 10.51 seconds but narrowly missed the qualifying time for U20 Worlds which is 10.50 seconds.

He, however, breached the U20 Worlds qualifying mark of 7.58m in long jump with a 7.82m jump in Bhubaneswar, putting himself in contention for selection.

And if can manage that again in the U20 Federation meet in Tumkur, Karnataka, later this week, he should comfortably make the squad for the U20 Asian Athletics, too, for which Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has set the qualifying mark at 7.52m.

But Parth, who lives and trains in Taiwan after his parents shifted there from Ranchi in 2015, wants to seal his spot in 100m as well when he competes in Tumkur. The young sprinter, however, didn’t have the best of preparations as he suffered an injury during training a few weeks back.

“After competing in India, I haven’t competed much, but this is the competition season and I am quite prepared. However, during training last month, I pulled my hamstring on the right leg and will have to look out for it while running,” said the 19-year-old before travelling to India.


Still confident of doing well, he is a bit worried about making the qualifying time for U20 Asian Athletics that AFI has set at 10.46 seconds.


“I will have to put in a lot of effort and then do my rehab properly. Because on the first day we have all the three races in 100m and then the next day there’s the long jump events,” added Parth, who has been pursuing a course in sports management.


Meanwhile, his parents really want to see him succeed and make it to both the Worlds and Asian meet. “Although he began training here from a young age, we wanted him to pursue engineering after he got older. But his dedication and commitment towards the sport changed our mind and now we want to win medals for India and make the country proud,” said Parth’s father Sunil Kumar from Taoyuan where he works as a software engineer.


While they do want him to represent India, he is currently listed as a Taiwan athlete on the World Athletics website, and they believe it will be corrected once he competes for his country of birth.


Meanwhile, staying away from India doesn’t help his case, as he has to travel long distances to compete here. It also becomes difficult to keep track of the events required to remain eligible for selection. This is where Jharkhand coach Ashu Bhatiya has stepped in, keeping Parth informed about everything he needs to do to ensure he doesn’t miss out on selection.


“I give him a lot of psychological support and keep him informed about all he needs to do. I am in constant touch with his parents and will give him the required guidance after he comes down for the Karnataka event,” added Bhatiya.
He will need that and much more as he will be travelling to Thailand before taking a flight to Bengaluru to take part in the competition this time.