Promising pole vaulter Kuldeep Kumar wins bronze in Asian youth championships with borrowed equipment

Four long years of struggle finally bore fruit for Kuldeep Kumar, a teenager from a village near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. That's because he won the pole vault bronze at the recently concluded Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Kuwait.

The 17-year old lionheart stayed focused during his maiden international competition to scale a height of 4.80m with borrowed equipment to win the bronze. The gold medalist from Qatar cleared 5.10m, while the silver medal winner from Iran scaled 5m.

“I struggled a bit in the opening three jumps but stayed calm to eventually stand on the podium,” said the bronze medalist.

Hardened by the circumstances, the promising youngster from UP was out to prove to critics in Kuwait that what matters in the end is the 'will to win'.

The promising jumper had joined the Bengaluru’s National Center of Excellence (NCOE) in April but couldn’t get new poles (equipment) to compete. However, timely support from a senior athlete, Anuj Kumar, who also practice at the same venue in Bengaluru, came as a blessing in disguise.

“Having borrowed poles didn’t bother me too much, as I was determined to give my best in my first major international meet,” Kumar said.

With a height of 4.80m, the promising athlete from UP qualified for the Asian meet during the National Youth Athletics Championships held earlier this month in Bhopal. Armed with a determination to prove himself in the first major competition of his nascent sports career, his goal was a podium finish, which he achieved.

“I could have done better than 4.80m, but a strain in my right leg halted my progress,” the bronze medalist told Sportskeeda. “It was good environment to scale new heights. I made efforts but couldn’t go beyond 4.80m.”

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Kuldeep Kumar's emergence

Kuldeep Kumar was initially a high jumper. He won silver in the U-16 age group at the 2021 Junior National Athletics Championships in Guwahati.

“His ability to clear 1.80m is a big advantage when he competes in the pole vault,” Kumar's elder brother Dhirender said.

Kumar, though, wanted to take up the pole vault, as his elder brother is a national level athlete, and his cousins are also pursuing pole vault. In April this year, he joined Bengaluru’s NCOE.

“It gave him a chance to pursue pole vault as there were better training facilities at the SAI campus,” Dhirender added.

Dhirender is also a national level pole vaulter and finished fourth in the National Open Athletics Championships being held in Bengaluru.

According to Dhirender, his younger brother has been staying away from home in Allahabad in a rented accommodation to pursue sports.

“In our village there are no facilities for either academics or sports. So, we rented a room for Kuldeep near the main stadium in Allahabad for practice,” Dhirender added.

SAI officials in Bengaluru made efforts to procure two new poles for Kuldeep Kumar, but the equipment came at the eleventh hour.

“It takes time to adjust to new equipment. So, I borrowed poles for tje Asian meet,” the teenage pole vaulter said.

Pole vaulting is a very technical event and it takes time to adjust to new equipment.

“The athlete constantly needs to change poles, which is a key piece of equipment in pole vaulting,” Anuj explained. “Athletes pursuing pole vault have to regularly invest in buying new poles. This is because different sets of poles are used during the off-season and competition."

As most athletes don’t have the luxury of purchasing a good number of poles, with each pole costing around Rs one lakh, the pole vault is a neglected event, Anuj said:

“Support from the government or the Athletics Federation of India is a must to improve pole vaulting in India."

Kuldeep Kumar doesn’t want to bask in the laurels of winning bronze at the Asian youth meet. He has already shifted his focus to next month’s junior national meet in Assam.

“I should emphasis on improving basic fitness to be better at the pole vault pit,” Kuldeep Kumar concluded.