NAGOYA: Transporting poles is more difficult than competing in pole vault. The athlete and the coach found out the hard way. In fact if there were no timely intervention, she might not even become the first Indian to win a pole vault medal. Baranica Elangovan and coach Milber Bertrand Russell found the most difficult way. With about 10 days remaining to their travel schedule, no airlines were willing to ferry their poles – about 3.30 metres in length and beyond flights’ specifications.
This, however, was not restricted to one airline but multiple airlines. If international transportation is a struggle, Milber said there have been instances when Indian railways had asked them to de-board the train.
On Friday, Baranica became the first Indian woman to win a pole vault medal at the Asian Games when she cleared 4.15m – not near her personal best of 4.23m but enough for bronze.
Misaki Morota of Japan won gold, clearing a personal best of 4.55m. She is followed by silver medallist Niu Chunge with a mark of 4.50m. Polina Ivanova of Kazakhstan took joint third with the Indian (4.15m).
Carrying a pole vault is apparently not easy. Two Indian airlines — Air India and Indigo — may ferry them in most cases but the others do not. The Athletics Federation of India had to write a letter to the airlines to allow poles as sports equipment. Finally, after much deliberation and back and forth letters, Japan Airlines agreed and the poles were brought by the team. It took them 10 days for them to get an airline which would carry her equipment.
The medal means a lot to Baranica whose parents are farmers. It was a chance encounter that attracted her to sport. Initially, she was not keen on pole vault but on the insistence of Milber, she pursued.
Even the coach had to struggle. “I had to acquire a pole first because it is quite expensive and one of my clients donated one but I did not have a trainee,” he said. “So I went looking for trainees when one PT teacher from her college (Ethiraj College) told me that Baranica is very good.” So the quest for a medal began. But the problem with her was she weighed 42kg. “She had to build her physique and start training,” he said. Exceptional results eluded her and in 2020 she had an ACL tear. It was a traumatic experience for the vaulter. After shifting to Reliance Sports Foundation in Bhubaneswar things started changing.
Baranica was not using the hard pole on Friday. This could have given her the right lift. She did not want to get injured is what the coach said.