Defying the odds; Harpreet Singh, the ace judo player from the cityspeaks to Ajay Singh.

Judo Throw, originally uploaded by Matthew Gemmell.

He has been winning gold medal in Judo at various inter-college tournaments continuously for the past two years. He has also won silver medal for Rajasthan at the National Junior Judo Tournament, 2007. Meet Harpreet Singh, student of Aatma Ram College, Bassi, who is now looking forward to win medal in the All India Inter-University this year. He shares, "I have defeated many players in open weight category (up to 100Kgs) and I am confident to win medal for RU." Though Singh has attained brown belt in Judo, unlike other player he does not want to appear for black belt test. Singh says, "My dream is to represent India in Olympics and then want to wear black belt."

Singh was introduced to the sport by his uncle who himself was a judo player, he recalls, "I was a wrestler in my village. My uncle made me aware about the scopes of playing the judo." His father Lakhveer Singh also supported him to join Sawai Man Singh Stadium for coaching and he started practicing under the expert guidance of Mahipal Gerewal.

In 2006, he made debut in the Open District Judo Tournament (Under - 17) at Step by Step School, Jaipur. The wrestling techniques learnt in village helped him to fetch gold medal and to impress state tournament selectors. Singh did not disappoint the selectors and won silver medal at the Open State Judo Tournament. His consistent performance again helped him to book a place in Rajasthan Judo Team at the National Open Judo tournament in Chhattisgarh, where he finished 5th.

His significant achievement came in the following year while representing Jaipur at the State Open District Tournament. He defeated many seasoned players and won gold medal. Same year, he also made state proud by winning silver medal at the National Open Judo Tournament in Imphal. Sharing his experience Singh says, "I defeated Veer Bhahadur, an international player in the tournament. I was happy only after two years of practice I was able to won medal for my state." With high sprit and confidence, Singh gave a trial for Senior National Judo Tournament. He cleared the trial and represented Rajasthan in the tournament held in Lucknow. However, this time he could not win any medal for the state. Sharing the most disappointed moment of his life, he says, "I was about to win bronze medal. But, I got hurt during the fight and lost 20 seconds before the finishing whistle."

The defeat did not let him down. After coming back, he participated at the Inter-College Tournament and won silver medal for Subodh College. He was also selected to represent University of Rajasthan at All India Inter-University in Manipur.

In 2008 and 2009, he won gold medal for Subodh College and remained inter-college champion.

Singh wants to join Indian Armed forces and continue playing the game. He has also cleared physical test for the same. He practices four hours daily at the Swai Mansingh Stadium. His idol is Olympic champion Tadahiro Nomura and he closely observes his techniques in every match. Singh gives credit of his success to his coach Mahipal Gerewal. When asked about his hobbies, he says, "I have no other hobby. And I do not want any distraction in my life. I just want to play Judo and achieve what I want to."

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Source Citation
"Defying the odds; Harpreet Singh, the ace judo player from the city speaks to Ajay Singh." DNA [Daily News & Analysis] 24 Jan. 2010. Educator's Reference Complete. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .

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