Parth Singh won gold. (Photo-Screenshot/X)

Junior Athletics National Championships: The player from Ranchi, who has been in Taiwan since the age of 6, won the gold medal by performing brilliantly in the Junior Athletics National Competition played in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. This player lives in Taiwan, but his heart beats for India, that is why this 18 year old athlete used to play for Jharkhand. For this this player even changed his name. Taiwan's Kupa Singh becomes Parth Kumar Singh as soon as he comes to India.

What is Parth's story?

of Jharkhand athlete Parth Kumar Singh's world is divided between two countries. One in India, which he represents and the other in Taiwan where he has been living since the age of 6. After Parth's birth, his parents took him to Taiwan. Father Sunil took a job in Taiwan. Parth's family settled in Taoyuan, about 40 kilometers south of Taipei. Parth remembers his childhood very well.

"It was really frustrating being the only Indian kid in the class. I cried every day because everyone there spoke Chinese and I didn't understand anything. I could only talk to my parents. I didn't have any friends for six months, until I started learning Chinese," he said. Language was a barrier, but sports came naturally.

This is how I started running

He told that in class third we had a sports day and there was a 60 meter race. I took part in it and won. ​​The coach from my school came to pick me up and asked me if you wanted to come and try track and field? This is how my career started. Parth's early success inspired him to focus on long jump. By Class 6, he had won a national school level competition. However, after that his progress stalled for a few years.

His progress accelerated again in the 10th grade when he jumped 7.62 meters—which was better than Taiwan's national record at the time. Later, due to a toe injury, he was unable to jump for months, due to which he had to focus on sprinting again. By the time he reached 12th class, his 100 meters time had improved from 13 seconds to less than 10.7 seconds.

Decided to represent India

However, during this time Parth was facing a strange problem. He said, "Running in nationals in Taiwan always felt a bit strange because I was always the only Indian kid there. I realized that no matter how good I was, I couldn't run for Taiwan. I had been living there for years, but I wasn't a citizen. That's when I started thinking about who I could race for. I'm still an Indian citizen, so it was natural that I had to compete for India." Was".

Parth is happy with his decision, but admits that there are mixed emotions associated with it. He says, "It's strange for me because Taiwan is like my home. I still feel a little bad about it because I really love this country and its people, but at the same time I can't give up my Indian passport because India doesn't have dual citizenship."

The coach helped

His coaches and friends in Taiwan support Parth a lot. "Nobody tried to convince me to take Taiwanese citizenship. My coach said he would support me if I wanted to, but he also said he understood that I wanted to represent India and he would keep coaching me," he says.

Parth told that he feels more at home culturally in Taiwan. He said that I feel that I am absolutely Taiwanese. Although my mother cooks Indian food, I prefer to eat at McDonald's. Although I can speak English, my mother tongue is Mandarin. I even think in Mandarin.

This is also a name of Parth

Parth also has a Taiwanese name. He told that my full name is Parth Kumar Singh, but in Taiwan I am called Ku Pa Singh. I am always called by this name. My friends call me Pa Sing. I also have a nickname, Jiao Hei, which means 'little black man.' This nickname makes sense because all my friends are much whiter than me. He said that Ranchi seems more familiar.

He said that he still finds it difficult to imagine living in India. India is really very beautiful, but I don't think I will be able to adapt to life here. When I came for this tournament, I reached Delhi and got stuck in traffic right outside the airport. I waited for 20-25 minutes, which people later told me was nothing, and I couldn't believe it.

This is Parth's goal

Parth is very serious about his career. He said that I think if I jump around 7.80 or 7.90 meters in the Junior World Championships, I will be in the race for a medal, but my dreams are even bigger. I know that I can represent India at the senior level. My target is to complete 100 meters race in 10.20 or 10.10 seconds and I think I can make it to the relay team. But my chances are much better in long jump.

Won gold in Bhubaneswar

Parth has Junior National Athletics Representing Jharkhand, he won the gold medal in 100 meters with a personal best time of 10.51 seconds. He also qualified for the men's long jump final, where he set a new record of 7.82 metres. This record was enough to qualify him for the Under-20 World Championship to be held next year.