Hoping to Set Worlds Mark: Siddhanth

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 2014 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games might not have gone according to plan for him, but Siddhanth Thingalaya is hoping to put that disappointment to bed by making it to the IAAF World Championships 2015 at Beijing, slated to be held later this year.

The national record holder in 110 metre hurdles had a miserable Commonwealth Games, where he failed in the heats, and a slightly better but still disappointing Asian Games, where he finished sixth clocking 13.73 seconds. “My immediate target is to qualify for the World Championships. For that I've to clock 13.47 seconds, which in itself is quite a task. If I can get to that range, it will also book me a spot in the 2016 Olympics,” said Siddhanth, whose personal best is 13.65s.

“I've been studying videos of my hurdling at Glasgow and Incheon really closely. Now I know what my strengths and weaknesses are and can concentrate on improving myself,” the athlete representing Maharashtra told TNIE.

“I know I'm good out of the blocks and also doing good during the first five hurdles. At the same time, I've also noticed that it's the final five hurdles where I'm not up to the mark and that's an area I'm working on,” he said after clocking 13.99s in the 110m hurdles heats here.

Not a stranger to Kerala, having competed in the state in several competitions over the years, the 23-year-old said that the conditions here are perfect for him.

“It's hot here, but that's perfect for hurdling. The track at the venue is very good, but the one that was given for warm up at the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium is not that good and is too bouncy.” The Mumbai lad felt that the competition here  will be tough. “I feel that the likes of K Premkumar of Telangana and Pinto Mathew of Kerala will pose a good challenge,” he signed off.