I want to apologize on behalf of Gurindervir: Coach apologizes after CWG horror show

India’s star sprinter Gurindervir Singh was a disappointment at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. India’s fastest man ran his 100m dash in 10.39 seconds, well below his best time, to finish 28th out of 76 athletes. The result meant that Gurindervir was eliminated from the competition in the very first round and failed to reach the semi-finals of the event.

The sprinter’s first-time coach Happy Singh apologized to the country and sprint fans for his performance and termed Gurindervir’s performance far beyond expectations.

“The country hopes that when an athlete runs for the country, he will do well. I apologize to the nation as Gurindervir’s first coach. He has not been able to live up to what people expected from him,” Happy Singh told NNIS after the event.

“You either win or you learn, but the learning process is too long if the competition comes once every four years. If you go to these events just to learn, there is a lot of pressure on them. But what is done is done, we can’t do anything about it. The only thing we can do now is support him,” he added.

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“I just want to ask for forgiveness as the first coach of Gurindervir because we were not able to give what was expected of us.

Happy Singh, the first coach of India’s fastest man Gurindervir Singh, reacting after the men’s 100m at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Gurindervir clocked 10.39s pic.twitter.com/8ZfyVkQYot— nnis Sports (@nnis_sports) July 27, 2026

‘GURINDERVIR HAD A FOOT INJURY’

Gurindervir’s current coach at Reliance, James Hillier, came to the event to explain, saying that Gurindervir had been suffering from a hamstring injury that the camp had been keeping an eye on.

“Everybody will look at the times and go, why couldn’t he do his best? He’s had a hamstring injury for the last month, we’ve kept it quiet. Where he is now, he can do the first 60m very well,” NNIS quoted James Hillier as saying.

The sprint times again focused on India’s pedigree in the big races, with Gurindervir running well below his personal best. The sprinter finished second in his heat and gave the crowd a thumbs up. Perhaps he felt his timing was enough to secure a spot in the semi-finals.

However, that was not the case. The top seven athletes advanced to the semi-finals, while the 17 fastest men were selected from the heats. Gurindervir ended up finishing 28th overall among the athletes competing in the heats, with Kuron Griffith of Barbados taking the final qualifying spot in 10.24 seconds.

– The end

Issued by:

Kingshuk Kusari

Published on:

Jul 28, 2026 12:21 PM IST