By Yemi Olus
Category- Track & Filed
The 58th Indian National Championships held last week, and one of the major highlights of the championship was Sreeshankar Murali’s 8.20m leap in the men’s Long Jump.
The 19-year old broke the former Indian Record of 8.19m set by Ankit Sharma in 2016. His mark also places him as No.1 on the world rankings in the U-20 category. Prior to this competition, Murali’s Personal Best was 7.99m set in March.
The last time a Nigerian recorded a leap of 8.20m was six years ago, when Stanley Gbagbeke, who had been regarded as Yusuf Alli’s successor, jumped 8.20m to win the National Championships in Calabar. Gbagbeke achieved this feat as a senior, but now, a junior athlete in India has replicated same. Even more sobering is the fact that no Nigerian male jumper has gone beyond 8.00m since 2013.
India has a world class athlete in the person of Neeraj Chopra, who is currently ranked 6th in the world in the men’s Javelin throw. Chopra, who is only 20 years old, first came into the limelight after winning the World U-20 Championships in 2016, setting a World Junior Record of 86.48m at the time. It was also the first Gold medal by an Indian in a Field event at any World Championships.
Chopra struck Gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in April, becoming only the fourth ever Indian to win a Gold medal in Athletics in the history of the Games. He then set a National Record of 88.06m to win the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta in August. However, the successes recorded by the likes of Chopra have been anything but coincidence.
News18.com captures it this way: “One of the first names on the list of people Chopra would thank is Garry Calvert, the Australian coach who was mentoring Chopra when he first broke on to the international Javelin scene. However, Coach Calvert resigned in April 2017 and for five months, Chopra had to train alone. He kept going from strength to strength though, and won the Gold at the Asian Athletics Champions in Bhubaneshwar with a throw of 85.23m. At the time, it was the best ever throw recorded on Indian soil.
“With German Javelin legend Uwe Hohn (the only athlete in history to throw a Javelin 100m or more) being roped in by the Athletics Federation of India a month later in September to train Chopra, the young Indian only kept improving. In March 2018, Chopra broke his own National Record set in Bhubaneshwar when he won Gold once again at the Federation Cup, throwing 85.94m.
“At this point, the Commonwealth Games were one month away, and the young athlete knew that he had to step up his training to participate in what was going to be the biggest international event in his young career. Offenberg, the Javelin capital of the world, beckoned. In Germany, with state of the art training facilities available, the exposure was invaluable.
“Speaking about his time over there ahead of the Commonwealth Games, Chopra had said, “Germany was a big move because I learned quite a few things. To train alongside Johannes Vetter (2017 World Champion and German record holder) and learn new techniques and exercises was a major step ahead of the Commonwealth Games.”
Seeing what these young Asians are achieving at this tender age indicates that India’s future in Track and Field is very bright. It also emphasizes the fact that with foresight, adequate planning, funding, and the right structures in place, anything is impossible.
India finished 3rd in Track and Field at the 2018 Asian Games. China topped the medals table with 12 Gold, 12 Silver and nine Bronze medals. Bahrain was 2nd with 12 Gold, six Silver and seven Bronze medals. India followed with seven Gold, 10 Silver and two Bronze medals.
Taking a look at some of India’s medallists at the Asian Games, it is evident that Track and Field is on the rise in the Asian nation. Ayyasamy Dharun won Silver in the men’s 400m Hurdles. He clocked a National Record of 48.96secs, which makes him faster than any Nigerian in the last three years. The last time a Nigerian went sub-49secs in the men’s 400m hurdles was in 2015, when Miles Ukaoma ran a Personal Best of 48.84secs to win the National title in Warri.
In the women’s 400m, India’s Hima Das clocked an impressive time and National Record of 50.79secs to win Silver. Her time puts her at No.23 in the world this year. The fastest Nigerian in the event in 2018 is Yinka Ajayi, and she is ranked 33rd with her time of 51.22secs.
In the men’s 4x400m final at the Asian Games, India placed 2nd with a time of 3:01.85, which ranks them as 12th in the world, ahead of the likes of the Bahamas (13th) and Jamaica (15th). Nigeria’s fastest time this season, 3:04.88, which got us Bronze at the African Championships in Asaba, would be ranked about 45th in the world.
How come countries like India are now gaining ground in events we were wired to rule? Why has it become extremely difficult to translate our vast potential into dominance on the world stage? Everyone seems to be moving with the times and taking giant strides towards progress except Nigeria. Things have got to change.
Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/10/watch-out-nigeria-india-is-catching-up/
