Pooja Singh (athlete)

Pooja hails from Bosti village in Fatehabad district of Haryana. Her father Hansraj is a construction worker.^[1][2] Her childhood coach spotted her during a yoga session and was impressed with her yoga postures, and recruited her as a high jumper.^[3] She did her practice jumps on village fields with bamboo poles and sacks of husk due to the financial hardships she faced at the start of her career.^[4] She did her Bachelor of Physical Education from Lovely Professional University.^[5] She is sponsored by the Olympic Gold Quest.^[6]

Pooja started her jumps under coach Balwan Singh Parta at a small facility in Haryana which had no landing mats.^[7] Her first competitive high jump event was a local meet where she cleared 90 cm. Soon after, she won her first gold medal in the U14 category with a jump of 1.41 m. In 2022, she won the gold medal at the Junior National Championships in Guwahati, setting a new U16 national record with a jump of 1.76 m.^[8]

She made her international debut at the 2023 Asian U18 Championships in Tashkent, where she won the gold medal with a jump of 1.77 m.^[3] She won a silver medal at the 2023 Asian U20 Championships in Yecheon, with a jump of 1.82 m.^[9] She finished seventh with a jump of 1.75 m at the 2023 Asian Championships in Bangkok.^[10] She won the bronze medal with a jump of 1.75 m at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Port of Spain.^[11] In October 2023, she finished sixth with a jump of 1.80 m at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.^[12]

At the 2024 World U20 Championships in Lima, she finished second in her group in the qualification round with a jump of 1.83 m, setting a U20 national record. She finished ninth in the final with a jump of 1.80 m.^[7] She won the gold medal at the 2024 South Asian U20 Championships in Chennai, with a jump of 1.80 m.^[13]

She claimed gold at the 2025 Asian Championships in Gumi, with a season best jump of 1.89 m, breaking her own U20 national record.^[14] Later in the season, she suffered a grade-2 ligament tear which ruled her out of the 2025 World University Games.^[15]

She won the silver medal at the 2026 Asian Indoor Championships in Tianjin, with a jump of 1.87 m, becoming the first Indian woman to win a high jump medal at the championships.^[16] At the 2026 Asian U20 Championships in Hong Kong, she won the gold medal with a jump of 1.93 m, setting a championship record and surpassing the previous senior national record of 1.92 m set by her coach Sahana Kumari in 2012.^[17] At the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, she finished eighth with a jump of 1.77 m.^[18] She finished seventh at the 2026 World U20 Championships in Eugene, with a jump of 1.84 m.^[19] At the 2026 Aisan Games in Nagoya, she won the bronze medal with a jump of 1.84 m.^[20]