CHENNAI: Arpinder Singh is back to where he was two years ago — training with PB Jaikumar in Thiruvananthapuram. Under the guidance of JSW’s Antony Yaich for the last few months, it finally looked like the triple-jumper had settled down under one coach. But a lack of results has prompted the 27-year-old to return to Jaikumar, who mentored him to gold at the 2018 Asian Games.
Arpinder, along with the likes of youngster Praveen Chitravel and Antony, went to open the season in South Africa. However, barely able to reach the 16m-mark, Arpinder decided to come back. “The results were not close to what I desired. That’s why I decided to train under Jaikumar sir again. There’s nothing wrong with Antony’s training method but it doesn’t suit me. I prefer the Russian technique where the focus is more on jumps whereas Antony’s focus was more on speed and other aspects while not doing many jumps to keep me injury-free,” he told this daily.
Over the last few years, the Punjab athlete has had multiple coaches and training bases. With each coach trying a different approach, it has been difficult for Arpinder to adapt. And according to Manisha Malhotra, JSW’s Head of Sports Excellence & Scouting, he decided to train under Jaikumar because Antony’s methods take more time. “His competition jumps were not coming that good even though all his testing parameters and markers were being hit in practice. I feel it was too late for a system shift for a senior athlete.
They are used to a certain way. And when you switch it, sometimes it doesn’t work. Maybe Antony’s methods take more time. He is doing it completely scientifically. But we just don’t have the time. That was putting Arpinder under pressure. So that’s why he decided to shift to a system that’s more suitable,” Manisha said. Under Jaikumar, the focus is more on the full run-up and multiple jumps in practice according to Arpinder. However, Manisha feels it is not on par with world standards. “These days, nobody does full run-up jumps. Arpinder seems to prefer that and I don’t agree with him. But I don’t disagree with him either. If you want to do something in a particular way, you are allowed to do that,”
she added.
With another change in routine, Arpinder is not sure how long it will take for him to be competition-ready. But he is not worried and plans to find foreign competitions after the Federation Cup to try breach the Olympic mark. “I am actually not feeling any pressure regarding Olympic qualification. I am injury-free at the moment which allows me to focus completely on training and have a good off-season before I start competing.”