Tokyo 2020: Shot putter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor overcomes depression, broken wrist to secure Olympics quota

As soon as he breached the Olympic qualification mark in the recently-concluded Indian Grand Prix-4, Tajinder Pal Singh Toor gave his coach Mohinder Singh Dhillon a warm hug. Toor crossed the Olympics qualification mark of 21.10m with a throw of 21.49m and bettered his national record.

Toor has endured one too many swings of misfortune in recent years. Days after he won the Asian Games gold medal in Jakarta, he lost his father (Sardar Karam Singh) to bone cancer. He got the news of his father’s demise when he was in the taxi after returning from Jakarta and was on the way to the Command Hospital in Panchkula. Toor hails from Khosa Pando village in the Moga district of Punjab.

In March 2020, when he was at his peak, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, and the Olympics were postponed for a year. A few months later, when lockdown in Patiala was lifted, and the athletes started training outdoor, Toor fractured his wrist of throwing arm (Left hand).

The injury affected Toor mentally, and he went into depression