Reluctant trainee to race-walking qualifier for Paris Olympics clocking 1:19.55, Akshdeep Singh, 23, has come a long way
As a kid growing up in Kahne Ke Village in Barnala district of Punjab, Akshdeep Singh often practiced running around the two-acre farm owned by his father Gurjant Singh to pursue his dream of getting enrolled in the Indian Army from the recruitment drives at Bathinda.
Singh became a race-walker in subsequent seasons and joined Indian Navy last year under the sports quota. On Tuesday, the 23-year-old became one of two Indian athletes, alongwith Priyanka Goswami, to bag the first qualifying berths for Paris Olympics with a new national record of one hour and 19.55 minutes in the men’s 20 km race walk event at the Tenth Indian Open Race Walking Championship at Ranchi.
“My father owns a two-acre farm in our village and my aim was to get enrolled in the army as a soldier and support my fami...