HARINDER Sekhon is undeniably at the top of his game! As the current world champion in the category – Highest Standing Jump (one leg) – Harinder made Malaysians proud recently when he broke the record with a leap of 1.384m and made it into the Guinness World Records.
His single-leg standing jump height surpassed the previous mark set by Canadian Evan Ungar. Before this, Harinder broke the national record with a 1.397m jump. Despite his active involvement in sports, the Shah Alam native who works as a Mathematics teacher, only got into the sport last December.
“I needed something more challenging to keep myself fit. And since I could not go to the gym, I thought it was a good idea to pick it up. Why not take up the challenge and see how far I can go with it,” said the athlete who also represents the country’s cricket team.
How did you celebrate when you heard about making it into the Guinness World Record?
I had a big celebration at home with my family. We ordered some nice food, had good laughs and a great time just together as a family.
But to be honest, I have yet to fully process it as life is still going on. Though people have been very kind on social media, I think it is important to remain humble and stay intact with reality.
But sometimes it does cross my mind especially when I am training. I am like “Whoa, I am currently the world record holder for this” and it feels good. But I do know, in my mind, there are a few more records I want to break. And I do not want to hold the momentum and get too carried away.
Do you find it difficult balancing your time between teaching and sports?
To be honest, I have been juggling sports and work as a teacher for a long time. I made my debut in Malaysia in 2016. And I have been working as a math teacher since 2015. And even before that, I have been playing state-level cricket and age-group cricket. So, I would say I am very used to juggling these things. But when I added jumping into the frame, I felt it took its toll on me.
That is because I was waking up in the morning to do yoga to keep my flexibility up. And then I would go to work until three or four o’clock. After that, I would go cricket training and then jumping at night. So, when cricket training got stopped because of PKP, it worked in my favour in terms of jumping. But I mean, I definitely miss playing cricket. So yeah, juggling all these things at one time can be quite taxing.
In hindsight, do you think you have sacrificed a lot to get where you are today?
Yeah. I definitely had to sacrifice going out with friends every weekend partying, eating junk food or just eating dessert whenever I wanted to. That is just out the window. Like, none of that. Even sometimes, it is really difficult for me, not to see my mom every day or my niece who recently became a part of the family. It is very difficult not to see her every day because I stay on my own.
What do you enjoy doing during your free time?
Because of the positive response that I have received, I feel like I want to give something back. So, I enjoy putting up workout content, food content and healthy living lifestyle content.
So sometimes when I am finished with my day, I usually spend my time editing some videos or putting music into some workout videos. I do enjoy it. So yeah, that is what I do. I like to edit videos and put it out for people. Hopefully, it helps them and they can take something positive from it.
How do you stay fit?
I am a big believer in writing things down and sticking to a plan. As for me, I follow through with my workout regime. So, I have a seven day a week programme that I stick by – four days it is at the gym. Heavy lifting and more plyometric jumping with some activities and exercises. And on the seventh day, I swim and do more yoga.
