I will kill myself and give my last breath: Inderjeet

Mumbai: Reigning Asian shot put champion Inderjeet Singh, who was one of the first Indian athletes to qualify for the upcoming Rio Olympics, wants to be the face of athletes who are unable to voice their problems out to the government.

“After the performance, I will be in a situation to speak for people who cannot voice out their problems. The government wants to know what problems athletes are facing,” the 28-year-old, who booked a quota for the Games as a result of his 20.65m throw at the Federation Cup in May last year, said on Thursday.

“At this stage everybody is asking me what are the chances of a medal. I only say that I am going to improve myself there so that in the coming years, I can make it to the event with a better score,” he added.

At 6’ 5” and weighing 150kg Inderjeet, who shot into prominence by winning the World University Games silver in Kazan, Russia in 2013, is one of the country’s medal prospects. Does that add pressure on him?

“Why to take pressure? I have to give my best. If I think it’s some Olympic  event then that won’t help. Pressure will reduce your performance. I’ll treat it like any other normal competition, have fun and do the best you can. I will kill myself and give my last breath in that circle,” the Punjab thrower added.

Life was not rosy for Inderjeet, who belongs to a typical middle class family from Haryana. In 2010, the hefty young man slipped into coma. Earlier in 2007, he lost his father Gurdial Singh and the thought of giving up athletics also crossed mind.

“It was not a good time at all when my father passed away and all my funds were over. I faced a lot of injuries. Then later in 2010, I was in coma for three to four days as the dengue attack was very severe. My family also was not with me. That time there was not much medical care and I too was moving from one place to another for training.

“I didn’t do the regular blood test properly. When I bought medicines, even if it was costly, since I was from a middle class family I wanted to save money. For example I used to take Rs 10 to buy a tablet but spend Rs 2 on it and save the other Rs 8,” Inderjeet lamented his sorry tale.

But Inderjeet, who won the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2015, is happy with the support he’s getting from the government. He recently returned from the US and the short stint brought a lot of changes in his routine.

“I worked like hell over there. I was a little over trained also. But now everybody is giving me blessing, love and support to go out there and do better,” Inderjeet, who currently is training in Haryana, said.

So what’s his daily routine like now? “I have to sleep early at night. It is very difficult because I have to cut out from all other activities like social media. I don’t have time to see my phone. I have to go out early in the morning and train because the temperature in North India is too hot these days. Before training I have to eat because our game is based only on strength so have to eat and sleep,” pointed Inderjeet, who is backed by Adani group.

Inderjeet has set himself a target of breaching the 21m barrier as soon as possible. American Joe Kovacs and German Storl have already registered attempts of over 22m in 2015.