RANCHI: First of all, who is Gurindervir Singh? He is a 25-year-old sprinter from Patiala, Punjab. Back in 2017, he won a gold medal at the Asian Youth Championships and there were huge expectations from him. He was performing well in multiple events.but injuries and other issues affected his consistency for a few years and he couldn’t reach his full potential immediately.
Now coming to Indian athletics — we have produced a legend like Neeraj Chopra. Apart from him and apart from him, we haven’t produced many world-class stars in athletics. However, at the Asian level, we have done reasonably well. In the last Asian Games, India won 29 medals in athletics, which is a solid performance.
We must remember that the competition in Asia is not very easy. We face strong nations like China and Japan, Middle East countries that recruit African-origin athletes, as well as decent performers from Central Asia and Sri Lanka. So Asian-level success is not easy.
But our biggest weakness has always been sprinting, especially the men’s 100m — the most prestigious event in athletics. While China, Japan, and even some Middle East nations have produced athletes running under 10 seconds, India was badly lagging. Our national record remained stuck at 10.26 seconds, set by Amiya Kumar Mallick way back in 2016. Even Asian countries that win very few athletics medals at the continental events were producing sprinters who ran under 10.1 or 10.2 seconds. It was genuinely frustrating to see our inability to produce even a decent sprinter by Asian standards.
Thankfully, things have started changing. In 2023, Manikanta Hoblidar broke the national record by clocking 10.23 seconds. After a relatively quiet 2024, 2025 saw real progress when Gurindervir Singh broke the record with 10.20 seconds. Later that year, Animesh Kujur took it further to 10.18 seconds, and Manikanta also ran 10.19.
The real explosion came in 2026 at the Federation Cup. Gurindervir first ran 10.17 in the semifinal, Animesh broke the record with 10.15, and then in the final Gurindervir delivered a sensational 10.09 seconds — becoming the first Indian to run under 10.10 seconds. This is massive progress. The national record has dropped from 10.26 to 10.09 in a short period.
These young athletes — Gurindervir Singh (25), Animesh Kujur (turning 23 soon), and Manikanta Hoblidar (24) — along with Amlan Borgohain, are pushing each other in a healthy competition. They have also broken the 4x100m relay national record.
This gives real hope for Indian sprinting. The dream of an Indian running under 10 seconds no longer feels impossible. These boys can take Indian athletics to the next level.
