Call it the Neeraj Chopra effect or whatever, but there seems to be a lot of fun in Indian athletics.
Golden javelin thrower Chopra changed the sport, breaking mental barriers and continuing to inspire young athletes to think big. And after the country’s best performance at the recent World Championships, where Chopra won his first silver medal and six Indians qualified for the final, expectations were high as the athletes members flew to Birmingham to attend the Commonwealth Games.
They lived up to expectations, or maybe even exceeded them, finishing with the best medal total ever – eight: one gold, four silver, three bronze – outside of the country ( held the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi 2010 with a larger number of medals).
India’s previous out-of-home best was just three but this time though Chopra withdrew due to injury, the medal bag was bigger.
PLAN IMMEDIATELY
How does the country manage such a pound program?
Adille Sumariwall, president of the Indian Athletics Federation, said: “Perfect planning” in a conversation with Sports star from Birmingham.
“And this was expected. We predicted 1-2-3 in the triple jump which we narrowly missed (Praveen Chithravel, fourth place) by four centimeters”.
There were also many firsts at the Commonwealth Games…. such as silver in the men’s long jump by Sreeshankar, gold in triple jump by Eldhose Paul, and one with Abdulla Aboobacker. High jumper Tejaswin Shankar and javelin thrower Annu Rani, both bronze medalists, were the others who opened Commonwealth Games medal accounts in their respective events.
But Avinash’s Sable silver performance in the 3000m bell tower chase was perhaps the most precious, worth it in gold as he shocked two-time world champion and 2016 Rio Olympic gold medalist Conseslus Kipruto.
“Sable’s race was the most thrilling and very special because we thought breaking the Kenya wall in the steeple chase was almost impossible…. but he did,” he said. Anju Bobby George, the country’s first World Championship medalist (long jump bronze, Paris 2003) and the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth Games medal in athletics ( 2002, Manchester, bronze).
The Kenyan steeple riders haven’t lost a medal in the CWG since 1998 but at Birmingham, Sable shocked some of the best riders in the world by winning silver in 8 hours and 11 minutes, the first time. Ninth he set the national record of the event.
He made Abraham Kibiwot, the 2018 CWG silver medalist, who won the gold medal, terrify Abraham Kibiwot.
With high jumper Tejaswin Shankar, given a CWG berth by the Delhi High Court after AFI refused to put him on the team, winning bronze, the divers became medal winners. largest chapter at CWG, four of which include one gold and two silver.
The 10,000m walking race also brought home women’s silver (Priyanka, individual best time) and men’s bronze (Sandeep Kumar) but despite lengthy overseas training trips, the men’s and women’s relay teams are all huge disappointments like the female discus thrower Seema. Punia and Navjeet Kaur.
DIFFERENT RELAY
The men’s 4x400m relay team of Muhammed Anas, Muhammed Ajmal, Naganathan Pandi and Amoj Jacob finished sixth (3:05.51 seconds), while the women’s 4x100m quartet consisting of Dutee Chand, Hima Das, Srabani Nanda and Jyothi Yarraji finished fifth. (43.81 seconds ). With next year’s Asian and World Games, clearly, there’s more work to be done, perhaps a shift in strategy.
“We are working on it,” says Sumariwalla.
While the happy faces make a good picture, there is also a bit of anxiety. Athletes such as sprinter S. Dhanalakshmi, MV Jilna and three-legged jumper B. Aishwarya – who are believed to have been on the flight to Birmingham – failed the tests. dope and disqualified.
