While the Karnataka-born high jumper Sahana Kumari was attempting the 1.92-m mark in the national inter-state senior athletic championship at the GMC Balayogi Stadium, Hyderabad, on Saturday, Bobby Aloysius, who had set the national record at 1.91 m, was ignorant of what was going on in the land of the Nawabs.
Later, when she got relieved from her official work and joined her kids, she was informed of the epic moment, that her name had been erased from the record registers and a new occupant had ascended the throne. A throne in the high jump world that Bobby has been adorning for more than a decade.
“It’s a landmark achievement. It took me some time to believe that my record at 1.91 m had been erased. I had cleared that height at the SAFF games in Chennai eight years ago. After retirement, I have been waiting to see someone surpassing that height. Records are meant to be broken and I am so happy to hear that,” said the Olympian who, in many national competitions, was the lone competitor trying to better her own record.
In 1995, she smoothly sailed over a 1.80 m-high crossbar, and then there was no looking back. The peak of her career was in 2004 when she cleared an astonishing 1.91 m.
Bobby’s tone over the telephone had a generous tint of happiness. “The 1.92-m mark has earned a record for Sahana and an Olympic berth for the nation. At the age of 31, if she is bending over backward, then there would be some reason for that. And I think the dream of an Olympic berth might have spurred her on,” Bobby said.
Sahana, earlier this year, had won laurels in the innovative high jump carnival organised by Bobby Aloysius in Thiruvanathapuram.
Meanwhile, Thiruvananthapuram city can also brag a bit about Sahana’s success. She had almost a month’s training at LNCPE Kariavattom and that certainly helped her.
“Sahana and her record owes a lot to this city. She had undergone hard training on Kovalam beach. That training on sand helped her to perfect her jump and flight and boosted her performance,” said N Annavi, national coach who assisted Yevgeny Nikitin, the chief coach, in grooming the jumper.