KOCHI: “I recovered from a debilitating back injury, not to be treated like this. For me, the competition is more or less over.” There was no trace of anger in Sidharth Yadav’s voice. But one could easily sense the tides of helplessness behind his stoic exterior.
If performance was the sole criteria for selection, the 24-year-old Haryana athlete would have already been training in Gold Coast. But an oversight by the Athletics Federation of India ensured that the high-jumper was left behind, forcing his parents to run from pillar to post so that he doesn’t miss his maiden international event.
The deadline for submitting the final entry list was March 7, the day when Yadav cleared the 2.25m qualifying mark at the Federation Cup at Patiala. However, the AFI had already sent a provisional list of athletes who they thought would be achieving the cut-off mark. Yadav didn’t feature. AFI officials said they are parleying with CWG Federation and its technical committee to push for a late entry.
But for the aspiring athlete, this is heartbreaking. “I shouldn’t be waiting like this,” Yadav said from his training base at SAI-LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram. “Had I not achieved the qualifying mark, I would not have approached them for a chance to go. Even if my jump was a centimetre below the cut-off mark, I would have consoled myself. But I am a qualified athlete, jumping 2.25m in my overall fourth event, who is forced to stay back at the training centre, unsure of what to do next,” he said.
Yadav had injured his spine during training in 2014 and it took several months of painful recovery and rehabilitation to make a comeback. He says the current snub hurts him more than the injury. “In the Open Nationals in 2017, I cleared 2.23m. For those who made the provisional list, they should have felt there is another guy with a chance of making the cut. I feel so sad. This situation shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
Tejaswin Shankar, the current national record holder and a CWG participant, had mentioned after the Patiala competition that Yadav’s presence spurred him to greater heights. “It was nice to see another competitor challenging you close in the domestic circuit. It will enhance the standard of high jump in India,” he had said.
Only the third Indian to clear 2.25m, Yadav felt the CWG would have given him much-needed international exposure, something he wants in the build-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Before athletics, Yadav played football and even represented Rajasthan, where he did his schooling, in sub-junior nationals. But it was athletics that caught his imagination and prompted him to dream big. The sojourns over the bar made him realise the frailties as well as potentials of the human body. But now, all his dreams seem to be hanging precariously.
AFI sources, however, maintained that they are still trying to persuade organisers to accept Yadav’s entry. But they are unsure whether it would work or not. It’s this uncertainty that frightens Yadav. “I don’t know what to do if I don’t get an entry,” he said.
shan.as@newindianexpress.com