CWG 2018: Amritsar athlete Navjeet Dhillon wins bronze in discuss throw

Dhillon, who had to wait for more than two years for getting her cash award for the World Junior Athletics Championships bronze medal, is hopeful that Punjab government will offer her a job in the state.

Amritsar athlete wins bronze in discuss throw

Women’s discus bronze medalist Navjeet Kaur Dhillon celebrate at Carrara Stadium during the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia. (Source: AP)

Twenty-three-year-old Navjeet Kaur Dhillon of Amritsar won a bronze in women’s discus throw event at Commonwealth Games in Australia on Thursday with a throw of 57.43 m. Dhillon, who had made her personal best at 59.18m in Indian Grand Prix in February, edged out New Zealand’s Hakeai Sositana for the bronze medal as Haryana athlete Seema Punia (34) won silver with a throw of 60.41”.

“I was aiming at improving my personal best, but the start was not good. But, winning a medal at the Commonwealth Games has always been on my mind and the bronze will motivate me ahead. When I won the bronze medal in World Junior Championships (2014), I had only become the second athlete after Seema Punia to achieve the feat. She is an inspiration for me even to”ay,” said Dhillon, adding that she started discus throw due to her father Jaspal Singh who is also a former national champion in shot put. “This medal is for my family,” said Dhillon from Australia.

Daughter of Jaspal Singh, a SAFF Games silver medallist, and Kuldip Kaur, member of the 1986 Asian Games silver medal winning team, Dhillon started training on the ground of Khalsa College for Women under her father and with her elder brother Jasdip, a bronze medallist in 2008 Youth Commonwealth Games.

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Dhillon, who made U-14 and U-16 national records in discus throw in 2008 and 2009 respectively, also made a new junior national record in shot put in Federation Cup in 2014.

Earlier this year, Dhillon won a gold medal in shot put with a throw of 16.45m and silver in discus throw with a throw of 57.75m in Federation Cup. “Her mother wanted her to start an individual sport. I had also won a bronze medal in javelin throw in 1985 nationals and we started training her in both the events. We were hopeful of her improving her personal best record today (Thursday), but she missed. But, this bronze medal will boost her confidence. This medal is more valuable to us than ours,” shared Jaspal.

Dhillon, who had to wait for more than two years for getting her cash award for the World Junior Athletics Championships bronze medal, is hopeful that Punjab government will offer her a job in the state.

Currently, Dhillon is working with Indian Railways as a junior clerk in Amritsar. “When I became only the second Indian athlete to win a medal in World Junior Athletics Championships, I thought that the state government would offer me a job as financial security is important for every athlete. I hope Punjab government offers job to all the Commonwealth Games medallists from the state,” shared Navjeet.

Nitin Sharma

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More