NAGOYA: There cannot be a more bizarre story than this. Seema just got her bronze in 10,000m with a timing of 32:50.05s, but her mother doesn't know where she is. In fact, for the last three months since she has been training at Colorado Springs, India's preferred long distance training centre in the US, her mother did not know where she was. Seema is the sixth child in the household and she was born when her mother was 45.
Her eldest sister is 45 years old now. And her 75-year-old mother is not in the best of health. “I don’t tell my mother where I am training and where I am going,” Seema said during a brief interaction after a tactical race here on Thursday. Seema’s mother doesn't know she is in Japan. So where does she think Seema is right now? “Delhi,” said the 25-year-old from near Tissa in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. The natural elevation makes it a perfect high altitude centre for her.
Seema’s mother will not inform until her sister informs her. “My father died when I was young and my mother and sisters raised me,” she said. “My mother is quite old, she gets really anxious. But my sister knows everything.”
Seema's race on Friday was not the usual race. It was slow. The reason behind this is that all medallists would be competing in their second events. It was not an easy race for Winfred Yavi, who won gold with a timing of 32:39.18. Tanaka Nozomi of Japan won silver with a timing of 32:41.54s.
Naturally a faster runner, the race tested her rhythm but she was cautious to not get exhausted or injured because of the ebb and flow of the race. Seema’s training in the US helped. “The federation had arranged for us to train in the US under coach Scott Simmons for the past three years. My fellow athletes and I have been training under him” she said. “The training camp in the US provided by AFI and SAI TOPS has been extremely beneficial for us. I feel that being able to compete well here is a direct benefit of that training. The conditionsare tough there, and we trained alongside Olympic champions, which helped build our mindset for competing at this level.”
Seema's best event is the 5000m and she said she would try to win silver. Coach Simmons, who was looking at her cool down on the short road inside the stadium, said they had a brief idea how the race would go because some of the racers were competing in other races as well.
Mixed 4x400m relay team wins silver
The quartet of Manu TS, MR Poovamma, TK Vishal and Vithya Ramraj won India's first silver in athletics. There was drama in the mixed 4x400m relay race. India started off confidently with Manu and were in the mix right from the start. He was third to hand over the baton to Poovamma, the senior most of the four and knew the pressure of running in this relay. One wrong step or baton exchange gone wrong, the race is over, that’s what happened with UAE who were comfortably placed until the baton exchange in the third-fourth exchange.
“I prayed to all the gods – be it Hindu, Christian, Muslim and all the gods,” Poovamma said after the team clocked 3:14.46s, which also reflects how much the medal meant to the team. The 400m relay team, especially the women’s, were under a lot of pressure due to slump in form. They needed this medal to set the tone for the entire competition. This is her third relay medal.
The silver looked very tight. In the end, Vithya anchored the last leg with a blistering run in the last 100 metres edging past Vietnam’s Thi Ngoc Nguyen. Vishal TK, the 400m rockstar of India, acknowledged as much. “Even though it was tight, we were coming in fourth-fifth for the first and second laps. I tried to give my best and I think I made it third or second,” he said. Two medals on the first day would help the entire team when they compete. Vishal TK, said he would be concentrating on the individual event where he is tipped as one of the medal hopes.
With shooting not in great form, all eyes would be on athletics to increase India’s medal tally.
