Parvej Khan: India-born runner rewrote the history books when he stepped in the finals of the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boston in March. He became the first-ever Indian track athlete to compete in the NCAA championship.
The track runner is one of the rising Indian athletes who has made everyone his fan. On Saturday, Anand Mahindra, Chairperson of Mahindra and Mahindra took notice of the 19-year-old athlete and was in awe of him.
Khan is surely destined to take over the track & field in the coming years. But his story is something that everyone should know of. Born in Mewat district in Haryana, Parvej has had a humble upbringing before earning a scholarship to Florida.
Who Is Parvej Khan?
Parvej Khan was born in Chahalka village in Mewat District of Haryana. His father, Nafees Ali, is a farmer and owns a five-acre land. Parvej was a prodigy since his teen years and used to beat 17-18-year-olds with ease.
He got to know about Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium from someone and packed his bags to leave for training. He stayed with his uncle in Delhi who used to drive a cab and started training in JLN stadium.
He shifted to Bhopal after a year to train at Sports Authority Of India (SAI) wherein he would go on to train under coach Anupama Srivastava.
National Glory!
It was not long before silverware started coming as Parvej won gold in 800m at the U-16 nationals in Mangalgiri in 2019 and then took bronze in the U-18 Khelo India Games in 2020.
He won his first senior race at the Open National Championships in Warrangal in 2021. The highest point of his career came at the National Games in 2022, where he clinched the gold medal in the 1500 meters.
He was part of the Indian contingent that travelled to the USA’s Olympic training center in Colorado in 2023. But a hairline fracture tilted him towards a different path. He saw the excellent facilities at the training institute and decided he has to train in the USA to develop as a runner.
After a quick chat with his friend from Morocco, who suggested that he should apply to one of the colleges, Parvej applied to the University of Florida. The university was looking for international runners and Parvej got the scholarship.
Parvej is constantly improving his game and is now part of Division 1 of the NCAA, the biggest student body with the largest athletics budget. Parvej aims to qualify for the Olympics by meeting qualification standards or by his rankings.
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK