Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh has long been a nursery for India’s distance running talent. The state first stamped its name on the continental stage when Mau’s Bahadur Prasad won gold at the 1989 Asian Championships.
Varanasi’s Gulab Chand built on that reputation by taking the 10,000m bronze at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. Both Prasad, India’s No.1 from 1,500m to 10,000m from late 1980s to mid 1990s, and Chand who followed him collected multiple victories at national level as well.
The latest distance star from UP is Aligarh’s Gulveer Singh after the Armyman won the 10,000m silver and 5,000m bronze – he became the first to win two athletics medals in the same Commonwealth Games edition.
Gulveer demonstrated both range and tactical maturity across distances, with a powerful finish to deliver medals. His double not only enhances his credentials but also underlines UP’s standing in Indian distance running.
The 28-year-old’s brilliant performances, arguably India’s best effort at the Games beyond the medals raises Gulveer’s profile as a role model for young athletes in UP who saw that international success is achievable if talent and hard work come together.
“Gulveer has made all of us proud, I didn’t miss both his events at Glasgow. I am happy that he is carrying our legacy forward in a big way in distance running,” Chand, nicknamed the ‘Black Rose’ of UP athletics, said.
“After Bahadur bhai and me, so many athletes tried their luck in distance running. Some of them were quite promising too, but somehow couldn’t click. But Gulveer has ignited a fire among the younger generation,” he said. “I am sure many more athletes from UP will try to follow in Gulveer’s path.”
Gulveer aside, among the UP athletes at CWG, the lone gold medal was won by judoka Asmita Dey in women’s -48kg category. Although Dey is from Tripura, she has been part of UP’s sports set up and is a Uttar Pradesh Police sub-inspector posted in Ghaziabad since 2023.
Her aggression, speed and power paid off as she negotiated a tough draw to triumph. Dey’s win underlined the growing strength of India’s lighter weight judokas at multi-sport events.
However, some others fell short of the podium. The 2023 Asian Games 5,000m champion Parul Chaudhary struggled to find her best in Glasgow, fading to 13th in the event. However, she finished a respectable fifth in the 3,000m steeplechase — a solid showing in a deep field although she fell short of a medal.
Woman Race Walker Priyanka Goswami — silver medallist at the 2022 Birmingham Games — missed out this time after finishing fourth in the 10,000m event. Neeru Pathak was a member of the 4x400m mixed relay team that qualified for the final, finishing sixth.
Jaunpur’s Rohit Yadav, with a season’s best of 87.05m, could only manage 81.56m in tough conditions in Glasgow as he finished seventh. Sagar Thayat finished sixth in the men’s discus throw F42-44/F61-64 final.
Lucknow’s Shreyansh Trivedi recorded a season’s best of 12.22 seconds to finish sixth in men’s 100m T38 final. The campaign of Agra’s 65kg boxer Aditya Pratap Yadav ended in the Round of 16, where he lost to Uganda’s Nuhu Batte.
“Asmita has made the country and UP proud by winning gold. With limited infrastructure, UP athletes have done well in the Glasgow Games,” said UP Olympic Association secretary, Anandeshwar Pandey.
He hoped UP athletes will do much better in the Asian Games in Japan (Sept 19-Oct 4). “Our government offers money and jobs to medal-winning athletes in the state, but we still lack adequate coaching and training facilities. If we rope in experienced sportspersons for coaching/training of athletes, we can have a rich haul of medals at international level,” he said.
