“I think crossing 20m is about mindset,” Samardeep said afterwards. “Your body will fail you at times but your mind will always stay with you. Now that I have crossed the mark, I think the mark will improve for me.”

The journey to that throw began not in a shot put circle but on a cricket ground. Samardeep bowled medium pace and played till district level. When his father Mahender Singh Gill was posted in Ratlam, he wanted his son to stay fit and started sending him to the Railways ground. A coach named Jagminder was there. There was a shot put lying around. Samardeep picked it up.

The early years were not straightforward. An ankle injury during his junior career set him back badly.
“He didn’t have great technique and while rotating in the circle, his ankle got injured,” his current coach Sandeep Singh said. “But after surgery, he came to train under me and that’s when his journey towards excellence started.”

The improvement under Sandeep was rapid. By 2024 Samardeep had crossed 19m for the first time. The following year came his first statement win — at the Inter-State Championships, he threw 19.82m, a personal best at the time, and defeated Toor for the first time. It announced him as a serious presence in an event that had, for years, belonged to one man.

Toor has dominated Indian shot put for the better part of a decade. He holds the national record of 21.77m, set in 2023, and is a two-time Asian Games champion. For years, no one came close consistently — Karanveer Singh showed promise but could not sustain it. Toor came into Ranchi with a season best of 21.03m — not a faded force, but a man being challenged seriously for the first time. On Sunday he finished second with 20.07m.

Samardeep, who has studied and admired him throughout his own career, was careful about how he framed the victory. “I don’t see Tajinder paaji as competition. I get motivated looking at him. There is no one who has the centre of balance like him.”

Then he added something that speaks to the unusual dynamic between them: “During my throws, he keeps motivating me and telling me to do better. Whenever I compete with him, his coach keeps giving me suggestions on where to improve.” The man he is beating is still, in some sense, helping him win.

At 6 feet 5 inches, Samardeep has the frame for the event. “That gives him a lot of reach and his body is apt for shot put,” his coach Sandeep said. The ceiling, he believes, is distant. “There are technical adjustments like improving his movement in the circle — we will work on that.” The implication is clear: 20.46m is a beginning, not an arrival.

With Toor absent from the Commonwealth Games squad, Samardeep will carry India’s shot put hopes at the Games. “I am happy it will give me a chance to represent my country. I will try my best to improve my personal best and win a medal there,” he said. It is a significant ask for an athlete who, earlier this year, had not yet thrown beyond 19.82m.

The hand was a little higher. The ball travelled a little further. Sometimes that is all it takes.