A star is born: Sandeep Singh steals gold at wrestling nationals

By Rohit Mundayur Noida, Jan 23 : Sandeep Singh was 14 years old when his coach gave him a target to win gold at the Olympics. The year was 2012, and his life since has been all about working towards that target, even if it meant missing his sister’s wedding or not going home during festivals.
Singh, 21, is yet to make a name for himself at the international stage but he made a big splash on Saturday by winning gold in the ultra-competitive 74kg category at the freestyle Wrestling National Championships at the Noida Stadium here.
The competitors included 2015 World Championships bronze medallist Narsingh Yadav, two-time Asian Championship medallist Parveen Rana, 2020 Asian Championship silver medallist Jitender Kumar, along with defending champion Gaurav Baliyan, who was among the youngest ever wrestlers to win a title at the nationals last year and went on to win silver in the 79kg category at the Asian Championship.
Singh beat Amit Dhankar, who had won an Asian Championship silver in the 74kg category in 2019, in semi-finals on Saturday, before a thrilling 3-2 win over Jitender that fetched him gold.
When asked if he had the title in mind when he came to the Noida Stadium on Saturday morning, Singh simply said: “My aim is to win gold at the Olympics. So, I came here intending to win the gold medal.” Singh comes from Mansa district in Punjab, about 180km west of Chandigarh. “There were no akhadas in our district so I went to Khanna in Ludhiana district, which is about 150 kilometres away from Mansa. I stayed there and learnt to wrestle. I never worried about the fact that it is far from home, I just wanted to win a an Olympic gold,” he said.