BHUBANESWAR: Every discourse ended with him. As if he was omnipresent. It was either the rain that brought the heat down on Monday or the person supposed to be here: Neeraj Chopra. In the warm-up area or the playing arena. Amidst the hype and hoopla surrounding Neeraj, others went about their chores like support casts at National Federation Senior Athletics Competition here on Monday.
An accidental sprinter, a footballer as a child and now running 200m for fun, and almost touching the national record. The story of Animesh Kujur is quite enchanting, especially the way he narrated it after touching the tape at 20.62s at the Kalinga Stadium. Nalubothu Shanamaga (20.97s) finished second, while Jay Shah (21.93m) was third.
As he sprinted towards the finish line in twilight, a waft of wind blew across the ground that brought the temperature down further. It was comfortable and conditions were ideal for running, jumping and throwing. If Animesh was scorching the track, in the far end, Abha Khatua was creating a new national record in women's shot put, hurling the iron to 18.41m, way, way better than the previous record holder (18.06m by Manpreet Kaur). Kiran Baliyan finished second with a throw of 16.54m, while Srishti Vij managed 15.86m for bronze.
As Abha went with the Dope Control Officers to give her urine samples, Animesh was narrating his story. He dribbled football before dabbling with athletics. His father, a police officer, was a national-level footballer. As a youngster, the athlete from Odisha began his foray into the sport. His stint at the Sainik School, Ambikapur, just accentuated his interest. "In Sainik School, everyone used to play football and is very popular," he said.
Destiny, however, had other plans. He started flirting with athletics before he got hooked to it. Like with millions of people's lives, the pandemic did play a role in shaping his future. A lean young man, he turned bulky and started sprinting. "I started running sprints and then around the pandemic, when I used to go to the ground, my friends told me to compete at the state meet. There I got selected for the nationals and I started running 200m," he said. "First Nationals, I finished fifth. Then, my parents told me, 'you have a future on this, go ahead.'"
If that was not a quirk of fate, then the next one definitely could be counted as one. He was competing at the U23 competition in Bilaspur in 2022 where he had seen a ‘foreigner’ working with some athletes and he walked up to him and asked if he would train him. "I didn’t know who he was but I saw he was with other athletes so I just walked up to him and asked ‘coach, will you train me?’.” Next year he was in the Odisha Reliance Foundation. The coach turned out to be Martin Owens – head coach of Reliance Foundation youth sport, Odisha. And in the last year, he transformed into the country's top sprinter.
Abha, on the other hand, talked about a tweak in technique that transformed her from an average thrower to a champion. She also spoke about her journey from a nondescript village in Midnapore district. She idolises Ryan Crouser and Tajinderpal Singh Toor and tries to imitate their techniques. The glide technique she had used earlier was transformed into rotation, relying more on speed for power than on brute strength. "I made those adjustments at the end of 2022," said the shot putter from West Bengal, who is representing Maharashtra, the state where she works. She started her career as a heptathlete and realised she was no good in high jump. "My shot put was good so the coaches asked me to concentrate on this," she said.
In her village, even now, the news reaches late. "We never heard of any Olympics or Asian Games. There is no sport in our village (Narayangarh)." She also recollected how the coaches and others convinced her to change the technique. "Initially, it was difficult but within two months or so I adjusted," she said. "By 2023, I started to throw with a new technique and at the Asian Championships I won silver, equalling the national record. This year, again I started to work on my technique. But in the Indian Grand Prix, I did not throw well because of the iron. It was small but here I got my own iron and the ones provided by the organisers."
She said that at the Indian GP, her personal iron had some discrepancy in the weight so she was not allowed to use it. As the final event of the day winded down, the rivalry between long-jumper Nayana James and Shaili Singh intensified in the women's long jump. However, it was Nayana who trumped Shaili again. Nayana jumped 6.53 while Shaili stopped at 6.34m.
Monday's results: Women: 200m: Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland (Karnataka) 23.85s, Srabani Nanda (Odisha) 23.89s, Devyaniba Mahendrasin (Gujarat) 24.14s; 800m: KM Chanda (Delhi) 2:02.62s, Twinkle (Punjab) 2:03.94s, Amandeep Kaur (Punjab) 2:07.66s; 100m hurdles: Nithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) 13.14s, Pragyan Prasanti Sahu (Odisha) 13.40s, Moumita Mondal (West Bengal) 13.64s; Long jump: Nayana James (Kerala) 6.53m, Shaili Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 6.34m, Moumita Mondal (West Bengal) 6.18m; Shot put: Abha Khatua (Maharashtra) 18.41m, Kiran Baliyan (Uttar Pradesh) 16.54m, Shrishti Vig (Delhi) 15.86m; Men: 200m: Animesh Kujur (Odisha) 20.62s, Nalubothu Shanumaga (Andhra Pradesh) 20.97s, Jay Shah (Maharashtra) 21.31s; 800m: Anikesh Chaudhary (Himachal Pradesh) 1:50.16s, Somnath Chauhan (Haryana) 1:50.16s, Mohammed Afsal P (Kerala) 1:50.44s; 5000m: Sawan Barwal (Himachal Pradesh) 13:51.01s, Harmanjot Singh (Madhya Pradesh) 13:51.61s, Kiran Matre (Maharashtra) 13:52.62s; 110m hurdles: Manav R (Tamil Nadu) 14.03s, Nishanthraja G (Tamil Nadu) 14.22s, Sachin Binu (Kerala) 14.25s; Discus throw: Nirbhay Singh (Haryana) 55.27m, Gagandeep Singh (Punjab) 54.38m, Oinam Alson Singh (Manipur) 52.03m; High jump: Chetan B (Karnataka) 2.09m, Swadhin Kumar Majhi (Odisha) 2.09m, Shaik Mohiddin (Andhra Pradesh) 2.05m; Decathlon: Gokul KR (Kerala) 6762 points, Kamal Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 6685 points, Stalin Joes S (Tamil Nadu) 6630 points.
