GANDHINAGAR: As the 2022 National Games were approaching, Pragnya Mohan of Gujarat was eyeing a rare feat of finishing on podium at two different sports — triathlon and individual time trial (road cycling). While it's usual for swimmers to compete in different races and win a bagful of medals, it's not common for other athletes to participate in two different sports and also finish in top-three.
Pragnya, however, faced a setback as her pet event was pushed back from September 30 to October 9 due to a change in venue. The venue was shifted from Sabarmati Riverfront to IIT Gandhinagar as the water was found unfit for swimming. The new date clashed with the individual time trial (ITT) cycling race forcing the 27-year-old Gujarat athlete to prefer triathlon over ITT. Both events were held 10km apart on Sunday morning with Pragnya skipping ITT.
A clear favourite, Pragnya, who finished 10th in the last edition in 2015, won gold with a time difference of 5 minutes 38 seconds against Maharashtra's Mansi Mohite. Aarthi S of Tamil Nadu finished third to bag bronze. Pragnya's timing was 1:07.32, including time taken by her during two transition periods after first and second events.
Trailing by 24 seconds after the 750m swimming event, Pragnya made up for it in cycling (20km) by clocking 33.34 minutes against Mansi's 37.21 minutes. She widened the gap further in 5km running by clocking 20.12 minutes against Mansi's 22.21 minutes to complete the event even when other competitors were entering the fourth and last lap.
"She finished second behind Monika Jat in selection trials for the Asian Cycling Championships in ITT in March this year. So yes, she was a favourite to finish on the podium at the National Games. Unfortunately, the change of venue and date meant she could only participate in one event as both the competitions were scheduled on the same day," Prateek Mohan, Pragnya's brother, told this daily. Prateek is a former state champion in chess.
Pragyna started her sporting career as a swimmer and used to compete in breaststroke events and individual medley. However, her best finish in age-group national level swimming was fourth forcing the family members to think about a switch. While training as a swimmer, she used to pedal her way to the Academy, which was 10km from her home, everyday. Besides, she has always been a good runner since school days. Given her prowess in three events, it was decided that she will pursue triathlon.
The switch finally happened in 2013 when she competed and won first prize of Rs 1 lakh in 50km cycle race at Sabarmati Cyclothon. Encouraged by the result in cycling, she then competed in the 2014 Triathlon Nationals in January and won gold starting her journey as a triathlete.
Also a qualified chartered accountant, Pragnya has put her professional career as a CA on hold as she wants to qualify for the Olympics. But to realise that dream she needs to train abroad regularly with professional coaches which requires a lot of money.
"I was given the Eklavya Award by the Gujarat government a few years ago. However, I need financial support to train abroad. Cycling is an expensive sport with each component of the cycle costing huge. Recently, I was in Australia for 19 months for training. It's difficult to pay for all these expenses. I have been winning medals for Gujarat for years now but I have not got the requisite support," the triathlete, who led India's debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, told this daily.
She now will compete in the mixed relay event of the triathlon scheduled on Tuesday. Each participating team comprised two men and as many women athletes. Every one of them swims for 250m, cycles 8km and runs 2.5km. Manipur is the strongest team in the event with Gujarat also expecting to finish in top 3.
The next day she will leave for Alanya, Turkey to compete in the Europe Triathlon Cup. A week later she will participate in the Africa Cup scheduled in Tangier, Morocco. She will then travel to London to train under international coach James Beckinsale and mentor and Olympian Gillian Sanders.