Jakarta: Had it not been for some prudent decision-making by Tajinder Pal Singh Toor's personal coach MS Dhillon, the star shot putter would have quit rather than shattering Asian Games record.

The 23-year-old athlete from Moga district in Punjab won a historic gold by hurling the iron ball to record-breaking distance of 20.75m. When his father Karam Singh, who cajoled him into taking up shot put, was referred to an Army Hospital in New Delhi for chemotherapy, Tajinder wanted to focus on the treatment of his father.

Dhillon, who has been training Tajinder for the last five years, revealed that his ward could not give his best at the Commonwealth Games due to his father's cancer.

In fact Karam Singh's health deteriorated after Tajinder came back from Gold Coast. "Prior to the Commonwealth Games, his father was serious but after he came back, he was more serious. His father was referred to Army Hospital in Delhi for chemotherapy. He was there for 10-15 days.

"On the second day, I called him and asked if he was training? He said, 'I don't feel like practising and I am not getting time. I am losing my rhythm. I can't do it now. I want to quit."

Earlier, during an Inter-University competition, Tajinder had pulled out a couple of hours before his event after knowing about his father's condition. Sensing that years of hard work could go down the drain, Dhillon landed in Delhi with a mission --- to get his student's focus back.

"I told him, 'No, you can't quit like this. The government is spending a lot of money on you and there are a lot of expectations from you'.

"I told him, 'you are not required there at the hospital, the doctors are doing their job. We started training but it was light training but he was not into it mentally. Then we went to Patiala and trained for one week."

Tajinder was understandably still distracted and here Dhillon played a masterstroke.

"Sundays are for recovery. I thought he would go back home on day-offs and chances were that he could again get upset. Then I requested the Athletics Federation of India that they organise a camp in Dharamsala," recalled Dhillon, which meant that Tajinder couldn't visit his father.

"We did not come back for three months and only 15 days before the Games, we returned to Patiala to get acclimatised to the humid conditions, similar to Indonesia."

Dhillon said he also made sure that Tajinder reached Jakarta 10 days before the competition, though, initially they were to supposed to reach only on August 21. PTI