Anand Shetty, the former international sprinter of repute, who met with a road accident and succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Mangalore, was an athlete par excellence..
The 52-year-old athlete reigned supreme at the National level and brooked no opposition. He was the undisputed champion in the 100 and 200 metres from 1981 to 1989. Anand bagged the sprint double at the Open Nationals in Delhi in 1982 and in Jamshedpur in 1983.
A silver medalist in the 200m run at Junior World Championships in Seoul, 1982, Anand represented the country in the Asian Games in 1982, New Delhi and the Asian Games in 1986, Seoul. Anand anchored many relay teams to victory. He won a medal in the 100m , 4 x100 m relay at the Asian Track & Field at Kuwait, 1983 and in New Delhi in 1987.
Anand also won the gold in the 200m at the SAF Games, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1984 and the 100m gold at the SAF Games in Kolkata in 1986.
Winner of the Rajyothsava Award, Anand hailed from Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka which produced many athletes like Vandana Rao, Uday Prabhu and others, and was a kabaddi player as he had the strong build for that before being lured to the track.
After hanging up his spikes, Anand turned to coaching and often took his wards to the Jayanagar Stadium to train on the cinder tracks in the mornings and on the synthetic track at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in the evenings. He produced promising athletes like Clifford Josva and Bindu Rani, Poonam Belliyappa.
