Commonwealth Games 2026: All you need to know about Pooja Singh

Pooja Singh has had a rapid rise in stature as one of India's brightest talents in Indian athletics over the last couple of years.

Pooja, a high jumper, broke the women's national record in the event earlier this year, leaping over a 1.93m bar at the U20 Asian Athletics Championships.

Early days

Born on February 21, 2007, in Bosti village, Fatehabad district, Haryana, Pooja Singh comes from a humble family. Her father works as a mason, and her journey in athletics began with very limited resources.

Pooja initially trained in gymnastics before her coach, Balwan Singh Patra, spotted her speed and jumping ability during a government run yoga camp in 2018. He encouraged her to take up the high jump, and the decision proved to be a turning point in her career. 

Without proper training facilities, Pooja practised using a bamboo pole and sacks filled with rice husks as a landing area. She also travelled nearly 12km every day from her village to neighbouring village to train under her coach.

Before choosing the high jump, she had tried several sports, including kabaddi, kho-kho, gymnastics and yoga. High jump eventually became the sport where she found her calling.

Her first competitive high jump event was a local meet where she cleared 90cm. Soon after, she won her first gold medal in the under-14 category with a jump of 1.41m, giving an early glimpse of her potential.

Rise through the ranks

Pooja's steady improvement soon brought success at the national level. In 2022, she won the gold medal at the Junior National Championships in Guwahati, setting a new under-16 national record with a jump of 1.76m.

Her breakthrough came the following year. She won gold at the Asian U18 Championships in Tashkent with 1.77m, followed it with a silver medal at the Asian U20 Championships in South Korea after clearing 1.82m.

Later that year, she represented India at the World Athletics U20 Championships, where she cleared 1.83m to set a new Indian U20 national record.

Achievements

Pooja continued her rise over the next few seasons with consistent performances. At the National Junior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar in 2024, she cleared 1.85m to register another U20 national record.

She began 2025 by winning the silver medal at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships with a jump of 1.87m before improving her personal best to 1.90m at the Indian Athletics Series in New Delhi.

Later that year, she created history by becoming only the second Indian woman after Bobby Aloysius to win the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in high jump.

In 2026, Pooja produced the biggest performance of her career at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong. She cleared 1.93m on her first attempt to win the gold medal, breaking Sahana Kumari's 14- year-old Indian senior national record of 1.92m and the championship record of 1.90m.

The jump also crossed the qualifying standard for the 2026 Commonwealth games.

She later won another gold medal at the Interstate Athletics Championships with a clearance of 1.83m, which also secured her qualification for the 2026 Asian Games.

Overcoming setbacks

Pooja's journey has not been without difficulties . Early in her career, she suffered a quadriceps injury that kept her away from competition for 15 months. Despite the long break, she returned strongly and continued her rise through the national and international ranks.

More recently, she suffered a Grade-2 ligament tear, which ruled her out of the World University Games and a major part of the season.

She made an outstanding comeback at the 2026 Asian U20 Athletics Championships, where she broke the Indian senior national record and won the gold medal in her first major competition after returning from injury.