92 yr old Fauja Singh to star in Adidas ad campaig

[nanosecond]

92-yr-old Indian runner to star in Adidas ad campaign

Nabanita Sircar

London, March 24

A 92-year-old Sikh will join the likes of David Beckham and Jonny Wilkinson. Fauja Singh from Ilford, a marathon runner, signed a deal with Adidas to co-front a major advertising campaign.

The campaign also features Beckham, Wilkinson and Laila Ali, the daughter of Muhammad Ali. From this week, Singh's face will be seen all across the UK as part of a campaign called 'Impossible is Nothing', and who could be more apt than Singh, who at 92 is setting various records. He took up the sport only 11 years ago when he came to the UK.

Until 81, Singh lived in an Indian village and jogged regularly "to get from one place to the next". Before the Second World War he took part in village sports competitions in which he says he was faster than many of his neighbours. The father of four children, 13 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren moved to England to live with his son 11 years ago after his wife died.

Boredom and homesickness led him to start running. At 89, he took part in the Flora London Marathon for the first time and completed the run in six hours and 54 minutes. The following year he kept the same time and set a world record for 90-year-olds. He has constantly become faster. Last year at 92, he ran almost an hour quicker than he did in his debut at the 26.2 mile distance, finishing the Toronto marathon in 5hrs 40min, the fastest time yet recorded by someone of his age. Singh's ultimate goal is to "enter the Guinnes

s Book of Records as the oldest man ever to run the distance," which means competing until he is at least 98.

Adidas hopes Fauja Singh's appearance in its ads will appeal to the growing number of people over 50 who are joining gyms and will encourage more older people to be used to market trendy sportswear. "Singh is the oldest person we have ever used in an ad campaign," Mark Sinclair, of Adidas UK told The Times. "The usual approach is to talk about inspirational stories in sports that we are associated with through sponsorship, which is generally younger people at the top of their sport. In this case, the story of a 92-year-old running marathons is inspirational and exceptional, and he embodies the 'impossible is nothing' mantra of our campaign perfectly."

Singh clocks up a daily total of 8-10 miles, some walking and some jogging. A vegetarian, he has breakfast at 6.30 which he calls "nutrition balls", made from ground nuts, herbs and spices mixed into a paste with water. After that he walks for up to an hour and then eats a plain yoghurt and two glasses of water. Between then and midday he carries on walking and jogging - to the Gurdwara, to do errands for neighbours, to see friends - and he doesn't stop to put his feet up once. For lunch he has mild curry, not too hot and spicy, and one chapati with a glass of warm water.

Singh finds samosas and pakoras etc make him sluggish, but says ginger in food is good for supple joints and against colds. For a snack Singh has dried, crumbled chapatis mixed with sugar. He meditates for 15 minutes every evening, takes a warm bath to diffuse any tension and rubs baby oil into his muscles at night.

Every Sunday he meets his coach, Harmander Singh, 44, and other runners to run lap after lap of a 2,148-metre hilly route in Ilford.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5983_63...78,00430005.htm

[AmardeepSingh]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

This is awesome!!! Forget the 'Sikh' models, who needs them.

Please post a picture or something of one of these adverts if possible.

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

[Ryu Hayabusa]

WHOA Awesome news!

[V]

Yea its wicked :wub:

A friend of mine (two weeks ago)

had a cut out from a magazine with the news in Swedish :wub:

it was the same guy, included a pic n he was from illford :lol:

theres no pic on da page

but I can describe him for you

well,

He wore a White pugh in the pic

White shorts

and was quite old,

VERY LIGHT SKIN

Koina people

I'll ask my mate if he still has it

bhull chukk maaf

GurFateh

[Singhstah]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh

Click on this link after the intro click on Fauja Singh :nihungsmile:

[AmardeepSingh]

SWEEEET!

thanks for the link veerji

[Simran9]

awesome

CHAK DE PHATTEY FAUJA SINGH JI!!! :e:

[smartsingh24]

so wait, the ads are only gonna be in the UK?

awwwwwwww @

[Akaali]

BALLLLLAAAAAAY SHERAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

KHALSA JI, doin big tingzzz!!!

[Guest SikhForLife]

nice nice. mad respect