The young champions have returned. Tejaswin Shankar, who won gold medal in recently-concluded World School Games in Wuhan, China, straight away headed for his school -- Sardar Patel school -- to meet his Principal and coaches as a mark of gesture and obeisance that elated his mentor, GS Randhawa's eyes. Veteran Olympian Randhawa, who came 5th in Hurdles in Tokyo Olympics is moved by the gesture of his talented ward. He says, "These boys have revived my zeal. I am 76 and I don't stay at the forefront. I knew that these kids will do well but never imagined that they will win gold at the World School Games."
Randhawa sees great potential in Tejaswin and Beant Singh, who regularly train under him at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Randhawa says, "If these young athletes get top-class coaches, proper training, adequate exposure then they have the potential to become world-class athletes." Tejaswin (1.93m) cleared a height of 2.11m in the High Jump category, whereas Beant competed in the Track and Field category to win gold in 800m.
Tejaswin says he got the best compliment from Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim, the London-Games bronze medalist in High Jump. "I have never seen an Indian athlete doing so well in athletics. I have watched all your jumps," Barshim told Tejaswin at the medal ceremony after winning bronze in Asian Youth Athletics Championships earlier in Doha.
Tejaswin lost his father last year but did not lose his focus from the practice. He used to play cricket and tried to become a fast bowler when his coach in the school when Sunil Kumar spotted him. Sunil Kumar says, "I was impressed by the bounce of this boy. I advised him to do high jump instead. He agreed and has started doing wonders. He has a long way to go." In just over 18 months since his first competition - the Delhi state athletics meet - Tejaswin improved his personal best by 42 centimeters and it now stands at 2.12 metres set in Doha Asian Youth Championships.
Story of another champion from Delhi, Beant Singh, is quite similar. He wanted to become a wrestler. He was training under the double Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar. But Sushil recognised his talent for track events. He was the handed over to coach Sunita Rai of Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi. Sunita says, "Beant is getting ready for 2020 Olympics. He has great talent and immense potential. I have a feeling that he might win a track-medal in Olympics.
While winning a medal at the Olympics is surely a long goal for any Indian athlete but the few talents who have emerged from the World School games has given India hope that some of them will bring laurels to the country in future. Now the onus is on the system to groom them.