Pooja Singh: India’s Rising High Jump Star Chasing Asian Games Glory at Just 19

At just 19, Pooja has already established herself as one of the brightest young names in Indian athletics. 

The women’s high jump specialist from Fatehabad, Haryana, has made a rapid transition from gymnastics to athletics and is now preparing to compete on the Asian stage with a growing collection of national and international achievements behind her.

Trained at the Anju Bobby Sports Foundation in Bengaluru, Pooja’s rise has been built on a combination of natural ability, structured coaching and sustained support through India’s high-performance sporting ecosystem.

Her journey is particularly notable because athletics was not her first sporting pursuit.

Pooja grew up in Haryana and initially pursued gymnastics. Her introduction to high jump came when coach Balwan Singh Patra noticed her potential and encouraged her to take up the event. The early training environment was far from the sophisticated facilities available at elite athletics centers today. Her training involved basic equipment, including wooden poles and improvised landing pits filled with rice husk.

Those beginnings, however, provided the foundation for a remarkable progression. Under systematic coaching and with access to better facilities, Pooja began developing into a specialist high jumper. Her determination and physical attributes soon translated into results at the national and international levels.

The transition from gymnastics proved particularly useful for an event that demands a combination of explosive power, coordination, flexibility and body control.

Pooja’s breakthrough came through a series of impressive performances in junior competitions. She won gold in the women’s high jump at the 2023 Asian U20 Athletics Championships, adding to her silver medal from the 2023 Asian U18 Athletics Championships. She also won gold at the 2023 Asian U20 Athletics Championships and followed that up with another strong performance at the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships, where she claimed the women’s high jump gold.

Her record at the Asian U20 level has been equally impressive. She won gold at the 2024 Asian U20 Athletics Championships while also collecting medals at other major junior competitions.

The consistency of those performances established Pooja as one of India's leading young high jump prospects.

Breaking a long-standing national record

One of the biggest moments in Pooja’s career came in 2025 at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea. She cleared 1.89 meters, becoming the first Indian woman to clear 1.89 m in the high jump in more than 25 years and breaking the long-standing senior national record.

The achievement marked a major turning point in Indian women’s high jump. Pooja’s performance in Gumi demonstrated that her junior success could translate into the senior category. At an age when many athletes are still making the transition from junior to senior competition, she had already established a new benchmark for Indian women in the event.

She has continued to progress since then, adding another major milestone in 2026.

At the 2026 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, Pooja won silver in the women’s high jump. She also competed at the 2026 Asian U20 Athletics Championships, where she secured another gold medal. These performances have strengthened her position as an athlete capable of competing consistently at major international competitions.

Her progression has also been supported by the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC), which have provided financial assistance during the Asian Games preparation cycle. She has received approximately ₹4.21 lakh under TOPS and ₹18.615 lakh under ACTC.

Government support behind the preparation

Pooja’s preparation has involved support aimed at giving her greater exposure to international competition and access to specialized training. Government interventions listed in her athlete profile include assistance for participation in international competitions such as the Asian Athletics Championships and Asian U20 Athletics Championships.

She has also received assistance towards the purchase of equipment and sportswear for training and competition. Her preparation has included a training-cum-competition camp at the Spala Olympic Centre, Poland, as well as a national coaching camp for Asian Games preparation in 2026.

She also participated in a pre-Asian Games training camp at the University of Tsukuba in Japan.

These opportunities have given Pooja exposure to international training environments while allowing her to prepare specifically for the demands of major championship competition.

Full Asian Games Coverage

The Asian Games represent another significant step in Pooja’s rapidly developing career. Having already won medals at Asian Championships and established herself as India’s senior national record holder, she now faces the challenge of competing against the continent’s leading high jumpers.

Her journey from a young gymnast in Haryana to a national-record-holding high jumper has been remarkably quick. The early days of improvised training equipment are now a distant memory. Pooja has progressed through junior championships, Asian-level competitions, and senior international events to reach a stage where she enters the Asian Games as one of India’s young athletics prospects.

At 19, she still has considerable room for development. But with a national record, multiple Asian medals, and extensive international exposure already on her résumé, Pooja arrives at the Asian Games with a strong platform from which to take the next leap in her career.

For the young high jumper, the objective now is to translate that preparation into performance when it matters most and continue the upward trajectory that has taken her from gymnastics to the top of Indian women’s high jump.