Ropar boy out to rule the pool

His connection with the blue sparkling water began as a tiny tot when he would often throng the nearby swimming pool in Roopnagar to see his elder sisters,Prabhjot and Prabhdeep,in action.

His connection with the blue sparkling water began as a tiny tot when he would often throng the nearby swimming pool in Roopnagar to see his elder sisters,Prabhjot and Prabhdeep,in action. However,a rendezvous with swimmer Puneet Rana changed it all for national-level swimmer Jashandeep Singh. “My earliest inspiration to take up swimming was my sisters. They wanted me to get into swimming. Once I met Puneet Rana and he offered some tips to me which proved fruitful,” said Jashandeep.

Adhering to the tips,soon started to bear fruit for Jashandeep as he became a vital cog of the Punjab state team just two years after his foray into the sport. A turning point came in his career in 2007 when he bagged gold medals in 50 metres,100 metres and 200 metres category of breast-stroke in the School National Games in Surat.

“Not only I won gold medals but I was also able to create new national records which are still in my name. Needless to say I was happy because my hard work and practice had begun to show results,” said the 17-year-old.

Continuing in similar fashion,he went on to bag three more gold medals at the Junior Nationals held in Amritsar in 2008 and a month later he was adjudged the best swimmer at the School Nationals in Pune,where he broke Sandeep Saijwal’s previous record with a personal best of 31.65 seconds in the 50 metre breast stroke event.

“My performances in the school nationals and junior nationals helped me represent India in the Youth Commonwealth Games at Pune last year. It was one of the high-points of my career,” said the swimmer who broke 25-year-old 100 metres freestyle record held by Rajiv Nagpal with a timing of 56.61 at the state championship held at Ludhiana in July. He also went on to set five new state records during the championship.

The current year saw him win gold and two silver medals at the Junior Nationals held at Jaipur last month. Taking note of his impressive performance,he was soon drafted into the Indian team for the Youth Asian Games held at Singapore earlier this month. “Although I could not win any medal,I finished at a respectable eight place. I am confident that I will be selected for the Commonwealth Games but my aim is to give a good performance in the SAF games late this year,if I get a chance to represent the country there,” said the 12th standard student of Shivalik Public School.

His coach Surjit Singh hopes for the best for this budding swimmer. “He is a very enthusiastic swimmer and the way he has performed for the past couple of years has made me proud. He is soon going to be among the best swimmer in the country in the future,” said Surjit.

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Amarjeet Sandhu,chief swimming coach,agrees with him- “I came across Jashanpreet during the winter of 2006 at Talkatora Complex in Delhi. He reminded me of Puneet Rana as he has a strong breast stroke kick similar to that of Rana.”

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