India’s throwing events have produced few names as decorated as Tajinderpal Singh Toor.

The 31-year-old Punjab shot putter heads into the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as one of India’s most experienced campaigners, carrying with him a national record, two Asian Games gold medals and nearly a decade of championship pedigree.

A two-time Olympian and the current national record holder in the men’s shot put, Toor will look to add a Commonwealth Games medal to his trophy cabinet.

Early days

Born on November 13, 1994, in Khosa Pando village in Punjab’s Moga district, Toor grew up in a family of farmers, where life revolved around the fields rather than the athletics track.

As a child, he dreamed of playing cricket, but his father, Karam Singh, and his uncle Gurdev Singh, himself a former Indian international in shotput, noticed his powerful build and steered him toward throwing events instead.

Toor started out with the discus before settling into shot put, training under coach Mohinder Singh Dhillon at a college in Jalandhar from 2013 onwards.

Rising through the ranks

Toor’s rise through the domestic and continental circuit was steady rather than sudden. He finished fifth at the World University Games in 2015 and won silver at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, missing gold by a mere three centimetres.

Later that year, he recorded a personal best of 20.40m at the Federation Cup in Patiala, falling just short of the qualification mark for the World Championships.

His first major international appearance at a Commonwealth Games came in 2018 in Gold Coast, where he finished eighth in the final with a throw of 19.42m.

The breakthrough

Toor’s career-defining moment arrived weeks later at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, where he uncorked a massive throw of 20.75m to win gold, shattering both the Games record and the national record in the process.

The triumph was tinged with personal loss, as Toor received news of his father’s passing from cancer shortly after his victory, a tragedy he has since spoken about as one of the defining emotional moments of his career.

He backed up his Asian Games success with continued dominance on the continental stage, winning gold at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships and successfully defending his Asian Games title in Hangzhou in 2023 with a winning throw of 20.36m.

In March 2023, Toor rewrote the record books again, launching the shot to 21.77m to set a new Asian and national record, cementing his status as one of the finest throwers to come out of the country.

Overcoming setbacks

Toor’s career has been repeatedly tested by injury. A groin problem picked up at the 2022 World Athletics Championships forced him to skip that year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games, while a wrist injury disrupted his campaign at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The Paris Olympics in 2024 brought further disappointment, as Toor finished 15th in qualification with a best effort of 18.05m, well below his own standards and outside the mark needed to advance to the final.

True to his history of bouncing back, Toor responded at the National Games in February 2025, winning gold with a throw of 19.74m.