NEW DELHI:A national record plus gold is more than enough to lift the mood of an athlete. Lalita Babar clocked an impressive 9:27.09s to obliterate her own mark of 9:27.86s set at the 2015 World Championships, while also clinching top spot. But her face wore a pale look after achieving this double in 3000m steeplechase at the ongoing Federation Cup.
Hailing from Man Taluk in Satara district near Vidarbha in Maharashtra, her family has been suffering from severe drought, and their ordeal has been a worrying factor for the 26-year-old, who is preparing for the Rio Olympics with coach Nikolei Snesarev.
“Mine is a joint family, and they’re bearing the brunt of acute drought. They barely survive with water drawn from the borewell. They use it for drinking and cooking. There has been scant rain for the past four years, and even the well is dry at times.
“Surface water level has gone down drastically, and once the borewell stops working, I don’t know what they’ll do,” she said with a concerned voice.
The Marathi has been suffering from injury for the last six months, and that is creating hiccups in her Rio preparations. But the steeplechaser says the threat posed by drought is frightening her more than the injury.
“I started training hard only two weeks ago. I was mentally down because of injury, and the thought of my family was giving me sleepless nights. My relatives, including papa, know how much effort I have put in to qualify for Rio, and they don’t want to upset my rhythm. So we talk once in 10 days. Still, they won’t reveal the entire details, and are used to covering up things from me,” she says.
Recollecting her last visit to her village in January, Lalita says the whole area was like a plain, flat land without vegetation. “It was totally parched, and there was not a single shade of green. Now, with the sort of summer that’s going on, the situation has worsened. It’s more or less like a desert, sans sand.”
Her family, like most in the area, is also living on limited ration, as the land has become arid and non-viable for cultivation. “We used to grow grains before. Now, we’re not doing it. People are thanking god for getting potable drinking water. Everything else is a luxury now,” she signed off.
Apart from Lalita, another long-distance runner, Kavita Raut, hails from Nashik district in Maharashtra, and her family is also reeling from water scarcity.
Results: Winners: Men: 400m: Arokia Rajiv 45.47s; 1500m: Ajay Kumar Saroj 3:44.60s; 3000m steeplechase: Naveen Kumar 8:55.04s; Long jump: Kumaravel Premkumar 7.88m; Hammer throw: Niraj Kumar 68.46m.
Women: 400m: Anilda Thomas 52.40s; 1500m: OP Jaisha 4:18.69s; 3000m steeplechase: Lalita Babar 9:27.09s; Discus: Krishna Poonia 55.09m; High jump: Sahana Kumari 1.80m.