Ludhiana judokas return home with 6 medals

LUDHIANA: Six city-based judokas returned after winning six medals, including four gold, one each silver and bronze, in the 33rd Punjab State Sub Junior Judo meet held at Jalandhar, recently.
Making the city proud, practitioners Gurpreet Singh, Suksham Sharma, Shiv Sagar and Jatin Kumar won gold medals, while Gurpartap Singh bagged silver and Aryan grabbed bronze in the meet.
Gurpreet, who won gold in the 45-50kg category (U-14), is a trainee of Sport Authority of India (SAI) centre, Ludhiana and has been improving his game for four years.
He said, “The meet was an excellent learning experience and the win was a sweet one for me. I hope to give more such performances in the future.” Student of Nav Bharati Public School, Gurpreet admitted that the competition was tough but he dominated in his bout. Suksham Sharma, who won gold in 30-35kg category (U-12), is a student of St Thomas School. He said, “I was very keen on participating in this competition as I had been practicing for long. And hard work finally paid off when I won the gold medal making my parents and city proud.” Thrilled after bagging a gold medal in 50kg category (U-13), Jatin Kumar of Sham Nagar, said, “This was an excellent start to the season. I won gold medal in 50kg category of U-13. The reason I choose judo as my game was because I wanted to play an individual game instead of team game.”
Meanwhile gold medalist Shiv Sagar, who is a student at Greenland School, said, “Winning a gold in the state is a matter of pride for a player. I won a gold in 55kg category (U-14). I hope to bring more laurels to the city.” SAI trainee, Gurpartap Singh won silver medal in 40-45kg category (U-14). Another judok of Chandigarh Road, Aryan won a bronze in 50kg category (U-14).
All players were trained by coach Rakesh Singh and Sonia Kumari. SAI in charge of Ludhiana centre S S Pannu said, “Gurpreet Singh of SAI centre would participate in National Sub Junior Judo Championship to be held in Guwahati on October 5. Other judokas Jatin and Shiv Sagar would also participate in the meet.”