When Maharashtra’s Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav crossed the finish line in 33:16.43 minutes to claim the women’s 10,000 m gold medal at the 61st Federal Senior Athletics Championships in Chennai on Friday, she knelt down on the track and mumbled. something in the breath.
“I offered a prayer when I finished the first. God was there with me,” she said.
However, the past few years have been difficult for the 25-year-old. The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) gave her a two-year suspension in July 2019 for testing positive for probenecid, a banned substance. The doping ban, which Sanjivani believes was caused by a contaminant in her Ayurvedic medicine, cost her a bronze medal in the Asian 10,000m championship.
“I became mentally disturbed. I didn’t do anything intentionally but don’t know how the substance got into my system. But union officials asked me not to worry. They believed in me. My coaches, relatives, mom and dad made me understand that while we can fly high at times, life will also make it difficult for us. These incidents happen. But we continue. I listened to them and kept practicing.”
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Worse still, an unprecedented pandemic has ravaged the world and she lost her supportive father to COVID-19 last year. That hit the family like a truck. “My father is a teacher. I think he has a virus because he often goes to check his exam papers. I’ve seen everyone in my family hospitalized,” she said, barely able to contain her emotions.
However, the situation stabilized a bit as her brother took over most of the responsibilities and raised her. “My family gives me all the confidence I need,” says Sanjivani. In her only other 10,000m race this year at the National League Cup in April, she achieved her personal best time of 33:13.07 seconds.
Need more competition
Though she’s quite a few minutes away from qualifying for the upcoming Commonwealth Games (31:00.00 seconds) in Birmingham and the World Championships in Athletics (31:25.00 seconds) in Oregon. , Sanjivani believes she is made for larger events. Before that, however, she needs to make some changes.
“I think I have enough ability to meet the qualifying standards of CWG or Worlds. But I need to race against a good field and face tough competition. Currently, it is a no contest. As you can see, I took people on one or sometimes two laps. ‘ Although Prajakta Godbole (2nd, 33:59.34s), who was from her own Bang, was sighing on her neck during the first rounds, Sanjivani withdrew from the rest of the pitch after that with ease.
She believes she can do better if someone arranges the pace. She said, “Actually, the competition was tighter when (L) Surya didi been around. Then each of us would swap leads in different rounds. Now there’s no one to match my pace so it’s become a bit difficult to keep pace and push myself.”
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is also said to be thinking of giving her more international exposure. Sanjivani said excitedly: “When I participate in an international competition, I can do better. The league is planning to send me abroad so that I can improve my time and play better. The competition is fiercer there and even the climate is favorable. Everything…even the outside track is better. In India, a good tempo will help you. Then I can control myself better through the laps. Except for that, we all get good facilities and a proper nutrition at the camp.”
