Coach of fastest Indian aims to create new talent

Sarabjit Singh, popular as ‘Happy Coach’ in Jalandhar’s sports fraternity, has been associated with the Sports Department since 2009. According to Sarabjit, his aim in life is to make a great sportsperson who would inspire the coming generations to include sports in their lives.

Athlete Gurindervir Singh, who recently became the fastest man in the country, has been trained by Sarabjit Singh. The duo had a 10-year long association. Gurindervir’s feat of setting a new national record in 100m race in 10.20 seconds at the Indian Grand Prix 1 in Bengaluru has earned him the sobriquet ‘Flying SIkh-2’. Sarabjit is elated as Gurindervir, who met him at the age of 14, has now become a star.

Sarabjit’s journey started at Sai Dass Public School in Jalandhar when he started taking part in sports. He took part in ‘walking’ event and would daily go to Guru Gobind Singh stadium. In 1991, Sarabjit won his first gold medal at the Junior National event held in Odisha. His passion for sports was evident from the fact that he would train in walking in the morning and would compete with sprinters in the evening. “This helped me excel in walking and I became a good sprinter as well. This was a rarity as there was hardly any athlete equally good at both events,” he told The Tribune.

Sarabjit said at the North Zone Athletics Championship held in Jammu in 1993, he stood first both the walking event and 100m relay. “Nobody could believe that. Coaches had started calling me ‘aathva ajooba’ (The eighth wonder of the world).”

Sarabjit then started giving coaching to students from Government School, Nehru Garden, and other colleges at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium. “My students started doing well at national and international levels. I was approached by Khalsa College where I was earning Rs 3,500 per month. I cannot tell you the satisfaction I get whenever my students bring laurels,” he added.

The coach shared an interesting anecdote when he was approached by someone for imparting fitness training to lawn tennis players at a Ludhiana academy. “I was offered a whopping Rs 35,000 when I was earning Rs 3,500. But I didn’t join there as I did not want to quit athletics,” Sarabjit said.

In 2009, he joined the Sports Department as a coach and within a year, two of his students qualified for the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi. “In the Open National Athletics Championship that was held in Bengaluru last year, my team representing Punjab won gold medal in 4×400m mixed relay event,” he added.

Players Jashanpreet Singh, Jagmeet Singh, Twinkle Chaudhary and Gug Kaur took training under Sarabjit Singh. As Twinkle and Gurvindervir Singh, both his students, have qualified for the Asian Championship, Sarabjit says he wishes to see them win and inspire others to take up sports.

Jalandhar