CHENNAI: FROM the fields of his hometown in Pappanadu in Thanjavur district to the picturesque evening sun at Eugene in the western end of the United States of America, Tamil Nadu's javelin exponent T Dharanidharan has come a long way. After finishing sixth at the World U20 Athletics Championships in August this year with a mark of 72.35m, the 19-year-old wanted to make amends.
And on Tuesday at the National Youth Athletics Championships, he improved his life-time best mark by three metres. In a competitive field, he began with a 75.34m throw in the first attempt, throwing two metres better than his personal best (73.42m) at the Indian Athletics series-9 meet in Ludhiana in June. Then, he threw a metre further to return with a 76.18m throw. In the third attempt, he threw as far as 75.27m, which was his last legal attempt. “I worked on my running blocks. Earlier, they weren’t great, but now I see an improvement,” he told reporters, when asked about the work behind Tuesday's throws.
On any other day, a thrower, who would go on to improve his personal best thrice by three metres, would rejoice his improvement. But for Dharanidharan, it was still not good enough. “I tried for an 80-metre throw,” he said.
Coming close to that 80-metre mark was in fact Dharanidharan’s aim for the season. After throwing 73.42m in Ludhiana, there were expectations of him throwing farther in the big-ticket event. But he stuck around the same distance to finish sixth at the Worlds. But the experience in Eugene has helped him. “I got to rub shoulders with some world-class throwers. I learnt a lot from just observing them,” he said.
When he explained about his experience, his face glowed, and understandably so.
Hailing from a farming family in Pappanadu, Dharanidharan switched from pole vault to javelin in class 9, citing financial hardship. “I feel honoured to go all the way from Tamil Nadu to the World Championships as a javelin thrower,” he said. His brother T Kanishkar is also a javelin thrower and the siblings train under former club cricketer-turned coach Manikandan.
The coach, also from Thanjavur, felt that a slight adjustment in his posture helped his ward throw farther. “In the 72.35m throw at the junior Worlds, he bowed down a little bit, because of which he couldn’t get the throw right. He also suffered from pain in the groin area which we ensured was healed before this competition. However, he felt a little bit of pain in his ankle, but with that he was able to do well,” he said.
While he relies on his technique to get the javelin as far as he can, the coach revealed that there is work to be done on his explosive power. “His power is a bit less right now, so we need to develop and improve that. We are planning to train on a synthetic track at the Thanjavur Stadium,” he said.
The pursuit for an 80-metre throw is still on. “We have the All-India University Championships in Bhubaneswar at the end of the year, for which he needs to qualify from an event in his college. The next season, we will work more to get him past the 80 metre mark,” the coach signed off.
