India's throwing events have produced few names as decorated as Tajinderpal Singh Toor.The 31-year-old Punjab shot putter heads into the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as one of India's most experienced campaigners, carrying with him a national record, two Asian Games gold medals and nearly a decade of championship pedigree.A two-time Olympian and the current national record holder in the men's shot put, Toor will look to add a Commonwealth Games medal to his trophy cabinet.Early daysBorn on November 13, 1994, in Khosa Pando village in Punjab's Moga district, Toor grew up in a family of farmers, where life revolved around the fields rather than the athletics track.As a child, he dreamed of playing cricket, but his father, Karam Singh, and his uncle Gurdev Singh, himself a former Indian international in shotput, noticed his powerful build and steered him toward throwing events instead.Toor started out with the discus before settling into shot put, training under coach Mohinder Singh Dhillon at a college in Jalandhar from 2013 onwards.Rising through the ranksToor's rise through the domestic and continental circuit was steady rather than sudden. He finished fifth at the World University Games in 2015 and won silver at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, missing gold by a mere three centimetres.Later that year, he recorded a personal best of 20.40m at the Federation Cup in Patiala, falling just short of the qualification mark for the World Championships.His first major international appearance at a Commonwealth Games came in 2018 in Gold Coast, where he finished eighth in the final with a throw of 19.42m.The breakthroughToor's career-defining moment arrived weeks later at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, where he uncorked a massive throw of 20.75m to win gold, shattering both the Games record and the national record in the process.The triumph was…
This report has been adapted by the PurePlay Sports Desk from coverage by The Hindu Sportstar, Khel Now, NDTV Sports, The Bridge.