CHENNAI: INDIAN athletics seems to be witnessing a new dawn where athletes don’t fear international competitions anymore. Nor do they fear failure on big stage. The transformation from apprehension to infectious confidence seems to have brought in a change in attitude and according to former Athletics Federation of India and current spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla, this is because of quite a few reasons. One of them is exposure to international competitions and another was because of the number domestic competitions the AFI has been conducting.
The Asian Athletics Championships has shown that youngsters have started producing results from 18 year-old to mid 20s. Out of the 24 medals India won, 20 of them have been won by those aged 26 or under. In addition to the medals, a few have shattered national and championship records as well. Young sprinter Animesh Kujur (21), javelin thrower Sachin Yadav (25) were among the stars on Saturday. While Animesh shattered his own national record in 200m, Sachin threw his personal best. There was an 18-year-old Abhinaya Rajarajan in the women's 4x100m relay team. On Friday, Pooja, 18, created a U20 national record in high jump. 21 year old heptathlete Nandini Agasara came close to breaking the national record.
Sumariwalla said that the level of competition has broadened. "We have 32 national level competitions this year. These young athletes have shown that they don’t hide and run away from them,” he said during a virtual press interaction. “They are ready to compete,and they are travelling across the world to get exposure. Earlier they were scared of competition but our youngsters are not scared of competition. The phase of hiding is over in Indian athletics." He also said that they have been training under good foreign coaches and the decentralisation of camps also helped the athletes to train at the centre of their choices.
The likes of Sachin, Pooja, Rupal Chaudhary (20) made their senior Asian debuts. “Earlier, we used to have foreign coaches at the senior level but now they start from juniors,” he said.
On Day 5, Animesh made history by breaking the 200 metre national record in the men's final. He clocked 20.32 seconds, bettering his won record of 20.40 seconds set in April's Senior Federation Championships in Kochi. “The start was not so good. But good curve running enabled me to earn a medal in the Asian meet,” he said.
All eyes were on the men’s javelin throw final as Paris Olympics gold medallist from Pakistan Arshad Nadeem was competing and multiple Olympic and world medallist Neeraj Chopra was missing. The Gumi Civic Stadium may have its highest turnout for this event. Nadeem didn’t disappoint with 86.40m throw for a gold. Indian throwers Sachin and Yashvir Singh put up a good fight. Yadav, who won silver with a throw of 85.16m, found his groove after his fourth throw. “I missed vital training sessions due to ankle and shoulder niggle which hampered my preparation for the Asian meet,”added the 25-year-old Asian meet silver medallist. Sachin hopes to recover fully and qualify to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo later this year.
The Indian quartet of Srabani Nanda, SS Sneha, Abhinaya Rajarajan and Nithya Gandhe clocked 43.86 seconds to win silver in women’s 4x100m relay. China took home gold while Thailand won bronze.
Distance runner Parul Chaudhary added second silver to her kitty on Saturday. The winner of silver in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase added a 5000m silver medal to her collection today. Middle distance runner Pooja also added 800m bronze to her kitty. She had earlier won 1500m silver.
Vithya Ramraj also won bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles. She clocked 56.46 seconds.
This Asian meet also augurs well for Indian athletics, keeping in mind the plethora of events coming their way in the this and next season - the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games in 2026. The ultimate goal however is the LA Games in 2028.
India's medal tally at Asian Athletics Championships
Gold - 8
Silver - 10
Bronze - 6
Total: 24.
Day 5
Results: Men: 200m: Towa Uzawa (Japan) 20.12 seconds, Abdulaziz Abdu A (Saudi Arabia) 20.31 seconds, Animesh Kujur (India) 20.32 seconds.
800m: Ebrahim Alzofairi (Kuwait) 1:44.59, Ali Amirian (Iran) 1:44.97, Abubaker H Abdalla (Qatar) 1:45.20, Krishan Kumar (India 7th) 1:48.72, Anu Kumar (India 8th)1:58.04.
Javelin throw: Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan) 86.40m, Sachin Yadav (India) 85.16m, Yuta Sakiyama (Japan) 83.75m, Yashvir Singh (India 5th) 82.57m.
Women
200m: Chen Yujie (China) 22.97 seconds, Veronica Shanti Pereira (Singapore) 22.98 seconds, Li Yuting (China) 23.23 seconds, Jyothi Yarraji (India 5th) 23.47 seconds, Nithya Gandhe (India 7th) 23.90 seconds.
800m: Wu Hongjiao (China)2:00.08, Rin Kubo (Japan) 2:00.42, Pooja (India) 2:01.89, Twinkle Chaudhary (India 4th) 2:03.33.
5,000m: Norah Jeruto Tanui (Kazakhstan) 14:58.71, Parul Chaudhary (India) 15:15.33, Yuma Yamamoto (Japan) 15:16.86, Sanjivani Jadhav (India 5th) 15:36.40.
400m hurdles: Mo Jiadie (China) 55.31 seconds, Oluwakemi Mujidat Adekoya 55.32 seconds, Vithya Ramraj (India) 56.46 seconds, Anu R (India 7th) 57.46 seconds.
4x100m relay: China 43.28 seconds, India (Srabani Nanda, SS Sneha, Abhinaya Rajarajan, Nithya Gandhe) 43.86 seconds, Thailand 44.26 seconds.
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