After Continental Cup medal, Asian Athletics Championships the next challenge for Arpinder Singh

Arpinder Singh is by his own admission, a huge fan of the social media platform Instagram, as evidenced by his 22,000 followers and his 400-plus posts.

When the chance to click a picture with Christian Taylor, the world’s leading long jumper arose, Arpinder didn’t hesitate. Up went the picture with his biggest competitor at the IAAF Continental Cup at Ostrava, Czech Republic.

On Sunday, the 25-year-old set a benchmark, by becoming the first Indian to win a medal at the Continental Cup.

The competition’s format, different from those used in most athletics competitions, helped Arpinder break new ground in becoming the first Indian medallist at the global meet, pipping Neeraj Chopra to the feat.

Arpinder’s 16.59 metres jump on his first attempt was enough for him to make the final four, as Cristian Napoles of Cuba finished fifth despite recording a 17.07 metre jump as Taylor, representing the Americas had recorded a higher jump of 17.59.

With a 16.33 metre jump on his fourth, Arpinder bettered Nelson Evora of Portugal, bagging the bronze medal. Known as the World Cup till 2010, not to be confused with the World Championships, Arpinder became the first Indian to bag a medal at the re-branded Continental Cup.

For the triple jumper, the year started with the Commonwealth Games, an event at which he was a defending medallist. Having earned a bronze in Glasgow, Arpinder was one of two Indian athletics medallists returning to Gold Coast.

“I was in a bit of discomfort at the Commonwealth Games. I suppose that after missing out on an Olympics berth, there was a bit of nervousness that I had,” says Arpinder.

Discomfort with the lower spine had kept the jumper occupied since the Federation Cup in Patiala. “I was expecting to jump 17 metres, but I was in pain during my landing. I also had two fouls in my first three attempts,” he adds. Arpinder managed a 16.46 metres jump in Gold Coast to finish fourth.

In Jakarta, Arpinder’s first jump was a foul again. “The conditions were hot and humid there. I changed my strategy and took off from 15 centimetres behind the foul line. I was advised by my coaches to do so and it paid off.”

At the Asian Games, his third jump was enough to fetch him the gold. Arpinder managed a best of 16.77 metres to win a Triple Jump for India after a gap of 48 years. Mohinder Singh Gill was the last Indian to achieve the feat in 48 years.

After the win, Arpinder went back to his room at one in the night and found room-mate Tajinder Singh Pal Toor awake. “We share rooms during meets a lot. We listen to a lot of Punjabi music, especially Sidhu Moosewala together. That night, we didn’t celebrate too loudly,” the triple jumper talks about the gold medallists sharing a room.

The Inter-Continental cup brings an end to a long season, with the Open Nationals in Bhubaneswar likely to be skipped by most of the Asian Games contingent. Along with next year’s Federation Cup, the big prizes on offer are the Asian Athletics Championships, along with the World Championships, both to be held in Doha.

“There are two to three top-level competitions in India, so I’ll need more competitions in order to prepare for those. The smaller competitions in Europe could be an option,” he talks about preparations for the two premier athletics meets.

The two medals will put Arpinder on course to add the Asian Athletics Championships title to his kitty. He finished fourth in Bhubaneswar in 2017 after winning bronze in Pune in 2013; he will hope Doha will improve that record.