CHENNAI: As Indian sprinter Harita Bhadra prepared to walk to the starting point at the Mizuho Park on a wet Sunday evening, nerves and excitement seemed to take over her. Making her Asian Games debut — which was also her first overseas tournament this year — she was placed on Lane five, next to 100m gold medallist Chen Yujie (lane six) and defending 200m champion Shanti Pereira (lane seven). A day after qualifying from the women's 200m heats, Harita's mind was preoccupied with what timing she would clock and the image of the podium.
"She called me before the race, in the morning only. I told her, first of all, don't watch any videos of your heats. I told her not to think about the timings because every race is different. I told her to just enjoy the race," Rohit Mane, Harita's coach from Reliance Foundation told this daily.
On go-time, the athletes found their starts, but Harita took the cautious route. "The plan was to pick the race a little late. I know in finals, most athletes make the mistake of taking the race too early.That's what happened to the Japanese runner who came 4th. She pushed it early. Harita started pushing a little bit late," Mane said.
While approaching the finish line, she held her nerve to take the third position with a timing of 23.20s. She edged Japan's Ido Abigeirufuka by 0.01 seconds to take bronze. "She got the extra energy she needed to push in the end. She executed the plan perfectly," the sprints and hurdles coach said.
Apart from being an athlete, Harita is also an entrepreneur. She makes 'anti-tarnish' jewellery, of which she posts about it on Instagram under 'Daagina'.
After joining Reliance Foundation in October last year, the 23-year-old offered to stop her side hustle to improve herself. But Mane insisted that she continue. "That is something that helps you mentally refresh from the pressure that comes from sports. My training pattern is different. So, she gets the whole day for the recovery and also for her own personal stuff where she is also getting refreshed. So, many times, refreshment comes from the different things if you do out of the sports. I always welcome side hustles because athletes know themselves better. Sometimes we have to understand and coaches need to be ready to move according to that," he added.
Harita's transformation
Before the Asian Games, she blistered to a 11.22-second run in the 100m dash at the Indian Athletics series final in New Delhi. The second-fastest run by an Indian woman. In her pet event, she clocked 23.12 seconds in the senior inter-state athletics meet which took place in June in Bhubaneswar. "She came to me last October with 11.8 second season-best in 100m. And in 200m, she had a best mark of 23.9 seconds. We knew there was a lot of work to be done. For the first few months of this season, we worked on getting a good start so she took part in the 60m dash at the national indoor meet in Bhubaneswar. And for the last three months, we worked on the last part of the race. That way, the plan was for her to peak during September, when the Asian Games was scheduled to take place. I am happy that it has come out well," he explained.
