GANDHINAGAR: After rewriting his national record and clinching the gold here at the IIT Gandhinagar athletics track, pole-vaulter Siva Subramaniam left for the hotel with the medal around his neck. However, when he was having dinner at the hotel, he realised he left his bag containing his belongings at the entry room of the venue. He immediately rushed back to the athletics tracks to reclaim it. Fortunately for him, he found it back with the yellow metal still hanging around his neck.
"I am on my way back to my hotel room. I didn't forget the medal but left the bag at the venue only. I got it now," Services' Siva told this daily. Despite breaking his own national record set in 2018, the athlete from Tamil Nadu was not satisfied. "I was regularly doing 5.40m during practice sessions in Nehru Stadium, Chennai. That's why I tried it here as well but cannot complete it. It will come as my target is clearing 5.70-5.75 in future," he added.
Earlier, he had surpassed the National Games record of 5.10m set by Vijay Pal Singh back in 1987 by clearing 5.11m. He then soared over 5.21m and asked for the bar at 5.31, with an eye on the record. He failed on the first try but wound himself up clearing it the next time.
"I attempted 5.31m during the inter-services meet in Bengaluru last month. I easily cleared 5.21m but failed to set the national record there. That was troubling me but now it's done. I will aim higher now. Now the target is to win medals at the Asian Games and World Military Games," he said.
U Gokulnath of Services (4.90) and Rajasthan's Rambeer Singh (4.900 bagged the silver and bronze medals, respectively in the event. A couple of days ago, Tamil Nadu’s Rosy Meena Paulraj bettered VS Surekha’s eight-year-old national record with a 4.20m effort in the women’s pole vault at the venue.
Sambo creates C&J national record to win 96kg gold
In March this year during the National Championships in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh's Sambo Lapung lifted 198kg in clean and jerk section but the lift was overruled by the panel of the judges. He won the 96kg gold but missed out on a chance to set the national record. Six months later, the ace lifter completed the job that was left unfinished in Bhubaneswar here at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on his way to gold at the 2022 National Games. Lapung’s effort of overall lift of 346kg, including the 148kg in snatch and 198kg record in clean and jerk, gave him the gold.
“It feels good to win gold at the National Games, but what’s more important for me was the national record. I came here to compete with myself and I had an eye on the record. I have been lifting a heavier weight in training but my coach wanted me to get the monkey off my back first and start afresh,” said Sambo Lapung after finishing on top of the podium.
He is third among six boys and three girls in the lower middle-class family and took up the sports just like his athlete sister Chitung Lapung. Initially, he wanted to become a boxer and joined the SAI centre in Itanagar. “Yes, I had first tried boxing only for about a year in 2008. But I gave it up. What’s the point in getting thrashed both in the ring and off it?”
Speaking on the switch, he informed, "We used to train alongside weightlifters and I noticed that the weightlifting coach was much more lenient towards his wards than our boxing coach, who beat us up for the slightest of mistakes.” He was so frustrated that he wanted to leave the centre itself but his sister persuaded him to make the switch instead of leaving the sport.
Born to a farmer from remote East Kameng district in the North-Eastern State, Sambo like many athletes in the country got into the sport so that he can arrange two meals and clothes.
Weightlifter Sambo Lapung, pole-vaulter Siva Subramaniam