CHENNAI: A fraction of a second may mean nothing to mere mortals. A very short blip in the fabric of time. For an athlete, however, that fraction of a second could be the difference between winning and losing; creating and missing a record.
On Monday, when Vithya Ramraj checked the giant screen she realized the folly of time. She was shocked. The timing read 55.43 seconds at the Indian Grand Prix 5 in Chandigarh. Only one woman in the country has run faster than her — the legendary PT Usha. Usha’s timing was 55.42s and Vithya missed the national record by 100th of a second. Usha missed a medal at the Los Angeles Olympics by the same 100th-of-a-second margin.
Though she was happy there was a tinge of disappointment as well. “My coach and I were targeting to run below 55s,” she said. “I was hoping to run below 55s. I am happy with the performance (personal best) but sad about missing out on the record. Anyways, this performance will give me the confidence to break the record next time.”
It had not been a great performance curve for Vithya. The Tamil Nadu athlete was part of the national camp for four years as a 400m runner. Two years ago, seeing her career not heading in the desired direction, she left the camp and decided to train on her own. “I thought if I trained alone I would get undivided attention and spoke to my current coach Nahpal Singh Rathore, who said he would train me,” said Vithya, who has been training with Rathore for around two years. “Since I am from Coimbatore, my sister (Nithya) and I stay in rented accommodation to train in Chennai.” She also said that she manages her training with the salaries she and her sister get. “Last time I got some money from the state government after winning a medal at the National Games and I have used that money in my training as well.”
The 24-year-old athlete said that while in the national camp, she was running the 400m but since 2019, she started concentrating on hurdles as well. “We have been preparing for the Asian Games for the last two years,” said her coach.
What seems fascinating is her improvement in 400m hurdles this year. At the Federation Cup in Ranchi, she managed 57.51s in May and then in June she clocked 56.01s at Bhubaneswar. And now, she has clocked 55.43s. In short, she has been fast improving. Even in the 400m, she clocked 52.40s, a vast improvement from 53.73s in 2019 while she was part of the national camp training abroad.
The Tamil Nadu athlete is looking forward to the Asian Games and is hoping to finish on the podium. Her sister Nithya too is in the Asian Games squad in 100m hurdles. The Athletics Federation of India included 3000m steeplechase athlete Priti Lamba in the India team for the Asian Games based on her performance at the Indian GP 5. The Haryana athlete clocked 9:45.13s in a two-woman competition. The cut-off was 9.47s. Prachi of Uttar Pradesh was added to the 4x400m team, while the AFI officially announced that sprinter Amlan Borgohain has been added to the team.
Results:
800m: Ankesh Chaudhary (Himachal Pradesh) 1:48.12 secs, Sree Kiran (Tamil Nadu) 1:48.66 secs, Prakash Gadade (Maharashtra) 1:48.88 secs; 400m hurdles: Yashas P (Karnataka) 49.69 seconds (Karnataka), Dhaval Mahesh Utekar (Gujarat) 51.23 secs, Vijay Singh Malik (Haryana) 51.25 secs
3000m steeplechase: MD Nur Hasan (Uttar Pradesh) 8:35.00, Ankit Rajesh (Haryana) 8:44.04 secs, Pukeshwar Lal (Chhattisgarh) 8:44.90 secs; Shot put: Sahib Singh (Delhi) 18.29m, Amandeep Singh (Punjab) 18.28m, Paramjeet Singh (Chandigarh) 17.38m; Long jump: Aditya Kumar Singh (Madhya Pradesh) 7.62m, Rishabh Rishishwar (Uttar Pradesh) 7.53m, Sahil Mahabali (Haryana) 7.46m.
4x100m relay: Team A: Harjit Singh, Amlan Borgohain, Amiya Kumar Mallick, Siva Kumar B 39.24 secs, Team B: 40.63 secs. Team C: 41.64 secs; Women: 400m hurdles R Vithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) 55.43 seconds, Sinchal Kaveramma (Karnataka) 58.46 secs, Ramandeep Kaur (Punjab) 1:01.02 secs.
3000m steeplechase: Priti Lamba (Haryana) 9: 45.13 secs, Kajalben Dineshbhai (Gujarat) 12:56.12 secs
Hammer throw: Tanya Chaudhary (UP) 62.60m, KM Rachna (UP) 60.71m, KM Fatma (UP) 49.70m.
Discus throw: Seema (Uttar Pradesh) 57.96m, Anisha (Delhi) 47.72m. Sunita of Haryana didn’t compete.
High jump: Rubina Yadav (Haryana) 1.79m, Abhinaya S Shetty (Karnataka) 1.79m, Rekha (Haryana) 1.70m; 4x100m relay: Team A: Nithya Gandhe, Vijaya Kumari, Srabani Nanda, Jyothi Yarraji 44.66 secs. Team B: 45.36. Team C: 47.90m.