BENGALURU/CHANDIGARH: Friends and former teammates of Iqbal Singh Bopara, former National record holder in shot put who was arrested in Philadelphia for murdering his wife and mother, reacted to the news with astonishment.
Former national athletics chief coach Bahadur Singh said Iqbal, the 1983 Asian Athletics Championships bronze medallist, had been dealing with depression since his playing days.

“Even in his playing days, he used to get depressed. At one point he would be jovial and suddenly he would not speak to anyone for at least two or three weeks. I have seen his mood swings in the camps,” Bahadur told TOI, while recalling their earlier association.
“I tried calling him four months ago but he didn’t pick my repeated calls. Later, I received a text from him that he was not feeling well and would call me back once his health improves,” said Bahadur who is 11 years senior to 63-year-old Iqbal.
Former Asian Games medal winner SD Eashan said he remembers Iqbal as a jovial person. “I was very sad when I heard that Iqbal was arrested for murder. During our playing days he always came across as a mild mannered and fun loving person during competitions and at camps. He was one of the top throwers in the country in the 1980s after Bahadur Singh and Balwinder Singh,” Eashan told TOI.
Eashan, who was the only shot putter from the South to challenge the array of top throwers from north India said: “While most of the group were rotational throwers, we (me and Iqbal) were glide throwers,” Eashan said.
Eashan said he beat Iqbal at the Inter-State meet in 1989 which was held in Guntur. By then Iqbal had the national record which he set at the Permit Meet in New Delhi with a throw of 18.77m. The record stood for nearly six years till Shakti Singh bettered it by a centimentre at the circuit meet held in Mandya in June, 1994.
“It was Bahadur Singh, Balwinder Singh, Iqbal Singh, Jaspal Singh and me in the camp. We were the throwers who were doing above 18m,” Eashan said. “But Iqbal was unlucky as he narrowly missed competing at the Olympics and Asian Games. He was selected for the 1986 Commonwealth Game in Edinburgh but the team didn’t go.”
Meanwhile, Iqbal Singh remained in the hospital in police custody in Philadelphia. “He has been charged with first degree (pre-planned) and third degree (no prior intent) murder. So the cops must have got some leads. The news has now come on the TV channels here,” one of Iqbal’s friends told TOI from USA.
Iqbal, who hailed from Urmar Tanda in Hoshiarpur, had shifted to the US more than two decades ago and was not in contact with anyone from his native village for the past 15 years.