Ajay Kumar Saroj (born 1 May 1997) is an Indian middle-distance runner. He won gold medals in the 1500 m event at the

2016 South Asian Games The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is a major multi-sport event which took place from 5 February to 16 February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. A total of 2,672 athletes competed in 226 events over 22 sports ...

and the

2017 Asian Athletics Championships The 2017 Asian Athletics Championships was the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 6 to 9 July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India. Bhubaneswar was the third Indian city to host Asian Championships. ...

. He also won Gold medal in 1500 m event at South Asian Games 2019.

Early life

Ajay Kumar Saroj hails from

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. Saroj is the youngest of three brothers, and has three sisters. His father is a farmer and his mother is a housewife. He took up athletics at age 15.

Career

Noticing his lack of interest in academics, his family encouraged him to take up sport at a young age. An avid learner, he used to watch the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

on television to learn the nuances of athletics. Beginning his career on track with 400m, Saroj, on the suggestion of his coach, shifted his focus to 1500m & 800m. He is currently supported by the

GoSports Foundation The GoSports Foundation (GSF) is an independent, donor-funded non-profit venture working towards securing funds and professional expertise for some of India's junior Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Established in 2008, it has worked with numer ...

through the GoSports Long Term Athlete Development Programme.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saroj, Ajay Kumar 1997 births Living people Indian male middle-distance runners World Athletics Championships athletes for India Asian Athletics Championships winners Asian Athletics Championships medalists Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Asian Games Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games bronze medalists for India South Asian Games gold medalists in athletics South Asian Games medalists in athletics Medalists at the 2016 South Asian Games Medalists at the 2019 South Asian Games Competitors at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics Athletes from Uttar Pradesh Sportspeople from Prayagraj