Fauja Singh crowd-puller at half marathon pre-event

The 114-year-old marathoner Fauja Singh was a huge crowd-puller for the athletes and fitness freaks who got together at the pre-event for half marathon ‘Daud Jalandhar’ being organised on Sunday morning.

A native of Beas in Jalandhar district, the elderly man was seated on the stage set up by the organisers, including Capital Local Area Bank, at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium here. Dressed smartly in a trouser and blazer, several youth came on the stage to take a selfie with him. Fauja Singh obliged everyone. As the crowd played music and danced, he hit his walking stick on the ground to enjoy the beats.

Fauja Singh appealed to everyone from the stage to join the marathon tomorrow. “His appeal enthused the crowd for the event. Our main star of the event came here accompanied by his grandchildren. Our Asian medallist athlete Harmilan Bains, her both parents, blade runner Maj DP Singh, hockey Olympians Mandeep and Manpreet shall all be there tomorrow,” said Sarvjit Samra, a marathoner and the main organiser of the event. Sarb Raj, a mountaineer, marathoner and PWD engineer, also attended the pre-event today.