India’s moment in athletics

If the rich haul in the Asian Athletics Championships were to be repeated, it could take the country’s medal count past 100 in the upcoming Asian Games

On August 7, 2021 when star Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, there was a massive shift in the belief system of Indian athletics. Suddenly, the mindset went from being content with participating to being unsatisfied with anything less than a podium finish.

That has been the case in all the competitions, domestic and international, that followed the historic day which was witnessed again a week ago at the 25th Asian Athletics Championships (AAC) in Bangkok, Thailand.

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The five-day competition saw India accumulate a total of 27 medals - six golds, 12 silvers and nine bronzes (13 of them coming on the last day) - finishing third in the tally, behind Japan and China, out of 42 participating countries. This is the most number of medals won by India on foreign soil (equalled the previous record set in Bhubaneswar in 2017 where India secured nine golds, six silvers and 12 bronzes).

Sure, there will be those insinuating that the top nations in the continental showpiece fielded their second or third string contenders. But the fact is Japan had most of their best competing in the continental event. And for the sake of argument, India were without the likes of Neeraj and steeplechaser Avinash Sable.

There were more missing from the originally named 54-member squad such as long jumper Jeswin Aldrin, triple jumper Praveen Chitravel and javelin thrower Rohit Yadav pulling out due to injuries.

Despite their absence the medal haul is quite commendable not just for the sheer number of it but the way each one of them was claimed.

Jyothi Yarraji started slow off the blocks, but caught up with the ones ahead midway and sped away in the final moments to win the gold in the women’s 100m hurdles. Abdulla Aboobacker, in danger of missing out on a top-8 spot after two attempts, leapt 16.54m in the third to make it before going even further with 16.92m in the fourth to clinch the gold in the men’s triple jump. Murali Sreeshankar found his best of 8.37m in his last attempt to grab silver in the men’s long jump.

“In recent times, after Neeraj, there is a feeling among Indian athletes that anything is possible. The spirit and morale has tremendously gone up,” observes Robert Bobby George, Dronacharya awardee and coach of Shaili Singh who picked up a silver (6.54m) in the women’s long jump event.

“It is heartening to witness this change in tide where each athlete is giving his/her best and pushing themselves to the limit. The focus is solely on their individual effort which is automatically getting translated into good results,” he added.

Lagging behind, but not done. Lost, but not defeated seems to be the current mood among the our athletes of today.

Echoing a similar sentiment, James Hillier, athletics director at the Reliance Foundation said: “When I first came here four years ago and watched their performances prior to taking up this assignment, I always thought Indian athletes were underprepared for international competitions and were mentally not strong enough to deal with the pressures at the world stage.

“Thanks to Neeraj, that has changed now because (the Indian) athletes believe that they can win as the overall standard and professionalism have improved. A positive culture is evolving. Because success breeds success,” offered the 45-year-old Englishman who trains Jyothi.

The new-found attitude has spurred athletes to achieve feats that were once considered beyond their reach not too long ago.

For example, two athletes won not just one medal but multiple: Apart from the 100m hurdles gold, Jyothi won a silver in the 200m while Parul Chaudhary clinched the women’s 3000m steeplechase gold before taking a silver in the 5000m.

The trend of producing more than one quality competitor for a particular event: The Indian men’s long jump line-up has Aldrin, Sreeshankar and Muhammed Anees Yahiya or while the Neeraj-spearheaded by javelin has Karnataka’s Manu DP, Rohit Yadav and Sachin Yadav (all breaching the 80m mark consistently).

“The goal as a coach is to keep producing talents at every age group,” said Kashinath Naik, javelin throw coach of Manu who picked up a silver by clearing 81.01m at the AAC.

While Naik has a watch on 22-year-old Manu blazing his own trail, his younger student, Shivam Lokhare, is making progress with the Maharashtra boy silver at the junior Asian Championships a month ago in Korea.

“We cannot sit idle thinking ‘oh there is Neeraj winning all the big medals’. We have to create a backbone for him so the event has many contenders at all levels. Having one representative isn’t enough anymore. We have become greedy,” he quipped.

“The entire fraternity from the athletes, coaches to the association and the government of India are working together now to take the sport forward,” said Naik.

That brings us to the most obvious question. With two months left for the Asian Games that begin from September 23 in Hangzhou, China, what can be expected of the athletics contingent after their best-ever show at the AAC?

“I think we will win a minimum of 30 medals at the Asian Games. We are going to have our full strength of top athletes and the positivity is contagious right now. It’s going to be tough to stop the flow of medals once the tally opens,” reckoned George.

Hillier, however, has a word of caution and advises everybody in the fraternity to keep their foot firmly on the ground. “The most important thing now is not to be complacent. You aren’t given medals, you have to go and win them. We must never lose sight of that,” he said.

Dope cloud

All said and done, what’s a good story without its shades of dark?

A day before the contingent were to leave for Bangkok, two female athletes were provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing drug tests.

The urine samples of Archana Sussendran of Tamil Nadu and Anjali Devi of Haryana returned positive for banned substances. Both were dropped from the squad. Shot-putter Karanveer Singh was another who failed an out-of-competition dope test.

As much as everybody loves talking about all things good, the topic of doping is greeted with an uneasy silence. So let’s leave behind the awkwardness of countering a difficult conversation for another exclusive story on another day.

For now, it is all about soaking in the most exciting phase the sport is experiencing.