Honorific Prefix: | Chief Petty Officer | ||
Tajinderpal Singh Toor | |||
Event: | Shot put | ||
Birth Date: | 1994 11, df=yes | ||
Birth Place: | Khosa Pando, Moga district, Punjab, India[1] | ||
Country: | India | ||
Pb: | 21.77m (2023) NR | ||
Module: |
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Tajinderpal Singh Toor (born 13 November 1994) is an Indian shot putter who is a two-time Asian champion, an Asian Games gold-medallist, four time national champion, the former Asian record holder and the current holder of the national record of 21.77m.[2]
Toor was born on 13 November 1994 in Khosa Pando village in Moga district, Punjab. Hailing from a family of farmers, he switched from cricket to shot put at the insistence of his father.[1]
Tajinder joined the Indian Navy, as a Petty Officer (PTI), recruited under a sports quota programme, allowing him to train and internationally compete for men's shot put sport.[1] [3]
In June 2017, Toor recorded his personal best outdoor throw of 20.40m at the Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships in Patiala, but fell short of the World Championships qualification standard of 20.50m.[4] In the following month, he won the silver medal at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar with a throw of 19.77m, missing out on the gold medal by 0.03m.[5]
Toor finished eighth in the final of the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a throw of 19.42m.[6]
In August 2018, Toor won gold at the 2018 Asian Games with a 20.75m throw, breaking the Games record and the national record.[7] He won the gold medal at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships in Doha with a throw of 20.22m.[8]
Toor qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics by registering a throw of 21.49m at the Indian Grand Prix IV in June 2021, clearing the 21.10m entry standard. This throw also broke the national and Asian records.[9] Competing with a heavily-bandaged shoulder at the Olympics, Toor registered only one legal throw of 19.99m in qualifying and failed to reach the final round.[10]
At the 2022 Indian Open Nationals, he was adjudged the best male athlete.[11]
At the 2023 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, Tajinder won a gold medal and defended the title with a gold medal at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, with a 20.23m throw.