Run, India, run

Back in his village, Neeraj Chopra would often crane his neck, trying to spot an aircraft in the sky. He always wondered where the plane was headed, and longed to be in it.

The 20-year-old from Haryana’s Khandra village continues to crane his neck upwards, but is no longer searching for planes. As he looks up and aims his javelin high, he knows it will take him places. “I cannot believe that I am travelling all over the world in those planes as a javelin thrower,” he says on the website of the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF).

Chopra won a gold medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta last month. He came up with his best throw ever, crossing 88m and elbowing out his own national record.

There were six more gold medals for India in athletics, and many other wins as well, but all eyes are now on Chopra, who, many believe, may well win a medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Chopra himself is unfazed. “I give my 100 per cent,” he tells BL ink over the phone, before leaving for the IAAF Continental Cup in Ostrava in the Czech Republic. “I was trained well by Uwe Hohn (national coach) and physio Ishaan Marwah.”

New generation

For long years, there was little that India could look forward to in international track and field events. But Chopra — along with a host of other Indian athletes in Jakarta — has shown that besting the best is not an impossible feat. And the athletes have returned from Indonesia with not just medals but also confidence. From their far-flung villages and small towns, they no longer gaze wonderstruck at aeroplanes but are learning to hold their ground.

“No English, only Malayalam,” insists middle-distance runner PU Chitra at a press conference in Delhi, after her winning run in Jakarta. She then goes on to give a concise account of her bronze-winning effort in the language she is most at home with. Jinson Johnson, fellow runner and medal winner from Kerala, acts as the interpreter.

Sports administrators explain that athletes such as Chitra and the system seeking to hone her talent are work in progress. And it fell pleasantly into place in Jakarta, where almost half of India’s gold haul came from track and field events. India won two gold medals on the field at the previous Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, and just one at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Australia earlier this year. The haul of 19 medals in athletics, officials say, is not a one-off feat, but an interim report card. Rajyavardhan Rathore, minister for youth affairs and sports, attributes the success at the Games to multiple factors, “It is a combination of coaches and selectors tracking their athletes. We are also tracking their opponents. What are they doing which we can do better?”

The Asian Games, however, is merely a pit stop, not the finish line. “Our aim is not Jakarta, but the Olympics in Tokyo,” stresses Adille Sumariwalla, president, Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

For a country that has not won a medal in athletics in the Olympic Games since Independence, and is still dissecting threadbare the one hundredth of a second by which PT Usha missed a bronze in Los Angeles 34 years ago, Tokyo might appear a wishful target. But it’s not implausible, says Sumariwalla. Systems were always in place, but are now being enforced with a stick, he asserts.

Show and tell: Athletes (Lto R) Muhammad Anas, PU Chitra, Sudha Singh, Jinson Johnson and Arpinder Singh returned from Jakarata not just with medals, but also renewed confidence

“We’ve been working quietly towards the Tokyo Olympics. Anybody who has observed us for some time would know that this (Asian Games performance) was coming,” he tells BL ink . “Twelve athletes qualified for the London Olympics in 2012. Thirty four of them made it to Rio in 2016. But then we got hammered. Why?”

Systems and interventions

That “Why” has rankled — and led to attempts to address the question. For long, Indian sports, many held, was hampered by a corrupt administration, red tape and poor diets. What has changed most in recent times is the training and diet. Athletes have a protein-rich diet, and take part in international camps and contests, which give them the exposure they need. Camps are regularly held in different places for different disciplines.

The government and the private sector have been pitching in to pull up India’s performance in sports, with programmes such as the Olympic Gold Quest and the government-sponsored Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). To popularise sports at the grassroots, the government launched its ambitious Khelo India (KI) programme in February. KI gets ₹575 crore or one-fourth of the 2018-19 sports budget of ₹2,196.35 crore. Although the sports budget rose by ₹258 crore, the amount allocated to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) was reduced by ₹66 crore, indicating that the sports ministry was keen on playing a more proactive role in the coming years. The consequences of the budget change or the impact of KI will begin to show only in the long term.

Yes, Boss! Hima Das lost the gold to Salwa Eid Nasser in the women’s 400m, but still set a national record with her timing of 50.79 seconds

On the other hand, TOPS, launched by the ministry of youth affairs and sports in 2014, is tailored to bring instant relief. Apart from helping selected athletes seek assistance in customised training and international competitions, it grants them a monthly allowance of ₹50,000. In July, ahead of the Asian Games, the TOPS list was expanded to include 196 sportspersons, including 36 from athletics.

“For the first time, athletes have been given such an allowance,” says Sudha Singh, silver medallist in the 3,000m steeplechase in Jakarta. “It is of great help. It takes care of my diet and sports gear.”

At 32, Singh is a veteran in the Indian contingent. Jakarta has given her the second Asian Games medal, but it came after the heartbreak of failing to qualify for the World Championships last year. Down with swine flu, she had missed the Rio Olympics too. Never one to let downturns dictate the course, she came back striking gold at the Asian Athletics Championships (ACC) in Bhubaneswar last year.

Though Singh has been struggling with her timing — in Jakarta, she clocked 9:40.03, way behind her personal best of 9:26.55 — she asserts that the federation’s intervention has helped. “I spent the last three months training at high altitude in Bhutan. Coach Surender Singh put me on a new exercise regimen, which included core exercises which I didn’t do earlier. Better facilities and individual attention reflect in the results,” says the Central Railway employee.

Corporate support

Faces that seldom made it to prime time television or the front pages of newspapers are now household names. The country knows not just of Hima Das or Swapna Burman, but also Muhammad Anas. Anas didn’t record his best timings at the Asian Games, but still ended up with three silvers in the 400m, 4x400m men’s relay and 4x400m mixed relay. Anas, who will turn 24 next week, clocked his personal best of 45.24 seconds in the Czech Republic this year, setting a national record.

Anas says his performance has improved not just because of his coaches PB Jeyakumar and Bukharina, but also timely interventions from avenues such as GoSports, a non-profit body that aids athletes. “I went through a phase when I had severe lower back pain. The foundation gave me a personal physiotherapist, who stayed with me on the ground. That meant I could train without pain for two months,” Anas recalls.

With corporate support, the equipment they get to use or the gear they wear is getting better as well. There was a time, not so long ago, when sprinters struggled to find the best shoes.

The 400m team’s exposure to international events has been a huge boost. Anas and his mates spent the last four months or so in AFI camps in Patiala, Poland and the Czech Republic, taking part in international competitions. “That made all the difference. We needed competitions, good facilities, support staff and nutritious food, and we got all of it. There is no substitute for competitive experience,” he adds. A sailor with the Indian Navy, he uses his TOPS allowance to buy nutrition supplements and sports gear.

Golden landing: Arpinder Singh followed up his Asian Games gold with an unprecedented medal at the IAAF Cup in Ostrava

The athletes who were also at the AFI’s national training camps, stress that when their immediate needs are taken care of, they can focus on bettering their performances. Take Arpinder Singh, whose triple jump gold at the Asian Games came after a drought of 48 years. Singh, who followed up the Jakarta victory with an unprecedented bronze at the IAAF Cup, points out that he has not had to worry about equipment and nutrition because he is supported by his employer, the public sector giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

“Being at the national camp for the past two years also helped a lot,” says the 25-year-old, while thanking his “former coach and constant guide” Sukhdev Singh Pannu.

Before he trains his eyes on Tokyo, Arpinder says he needs a full-time coach. He also believes that the AFI’s decision to acquire foreign coaches of repute has helped improve India’s show. Many believe that the medal tally went up because of the tough training given to the 400m athletes by Russian-American coach Galina Bukharina (see box).

Bagging a coach

 

No coach has been the subject of such intense curiosity in India as Galina Bukharina, the 73-year-old Russian-American currently training a clutch of athletes in India. Six of the 19 medals in athletics have come from her 400m sprinters. She has been working closely with the athletes since she was appointed the 400m coach by the AFI in May 2017.

Galina Bukharina with Hima Das

 

When Bukharina was asked to name the possible contenders for the games, she insisted that she could only recommend those who had trained under her. This led Anas and MR Poovamma, who were earlier not part of her camp, to join it eventually. They ended up with medals, too. The six medals that her athletes won included one gold. The others won silver.

Bukharina is among the handful of international coaches and experts working with the AFI. Adille Sumariwalla, AFI president, says that finding the right coach is no easy task. “Coaching in India is not like coaching in the US or Europe. Here, you will have a relay team in which the four athletes speak four different languages. We need someone who understands the complex Indian culture,” he says.

India is also often way off the radar for top coaches. Many do not mind a short stint in the country, but are not keen on taking up long–term assignments. “Our accommodation facilities at the camp are not the best. A lot of them find it tough to deal with the Indian weather. Ultimately, we work with a limited pool,” Sumariwalla adds.

Bukharina’s handling of the women’s 4x400m relay — where she started the race with Das, leaving novice VK Vismaya to do the last lap against Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Nasser — has already inspired multiple analyses. Sumariwalla recalls that the coach was confident, and her only concern was over getting the sprinters to peak at the right time. “She told me the girls will be ready for Jakarta. They took part in as many as eight races while training in the Czech Republic before the Asian Games. They won some, lost a few, and got hammered in the rest. But it helped build their confidence,” he adds.

The women, however, did not do too well at the trials. When Bukharina was asked about that by Sumariwalla, she retorted, “Do I look stupid? Why would I want them to peak early? I would have them peak on the right day, tapering their load and letting them drop their time.”

Mind games

The coaches have also trained athletes to gear up mentally for the big fights. Johnson, for instance, approaches his races — 800m and 1,500m — clinically, almost like a psychologist. In Jakarta, compatriot Manjit Singh had sprung a surprise in the 800m race, sprinting to the finish to win the gold. Johnson was considered the favourite to win the race, for he had broken Sriram Singh’s 42-year record in the category this year.

“People criticised my finish. But if you watch the video, you’ll see that I finished well, thrusting out the chest. If not for that finish, the silver could have as well become bronze,” he says.

Well done, mate: Manjit Singh sprang a surprise when he sprinted to the gold in the 800m finals, pushing compatriot Jinson Johnson to the second place

Unlike many of the other contenders, Johnson had been running back-to-back races before the 1,500m finals, where he was up against fresher and faster athletes from Bahrain and Iran. He focussed on not letting his opponents know he was tired. Johnson finished the race with a gold.

His coach of the past 11 months, Jaswinder Singh Bhatia, had ensured Johnson was physically up for the race. “A lot of attention was paid to his recovery. After the race, he would be given an ice bath and a massage,” says Bhatia, who also coaches Chitra.

The middle-distance runner was largely on his own until he approached Dronacharya awardee Bhatia at a camp in Ooty. “Bhatia Sir has been with me throughout, and my timing has improved,” says Johnson. When Bhatia took over Johnson’s training, he worked to keep his runner injury-free. “If he remained injury-free, we could continue training and that will show in the results. Earlier he would often strain his calf or hamstring,” says the coach.

Bhatia believes the AAC in Bhubaneswar last year indicated that India’s prospects were brighter than before. “The coaches, athletes and the federation began to work as a team. Greater planning was brought into international participation and events. Athletes were rewarded for good performances and that brought in accountability,” he adds.

The accountability clause now applies to the coaches as well. Bhatia had to submit to the AFI detailed plans on preferred training venues and international competitions for Johnson and Chitra. “We have submitted our plans till Tokyo. We meet and debate over a plan, questions are raised and it is finally sent to the SAI. The system has been in place over the past two years,” says Bhatia.

Getting Indian coaches to systemise training and document daily activities and timing has been an uphill task, says Sumariwalla. “Indian coaches don’t want to put anything on paper. It is all in their head.” He points out that international coaches tend to be meticulous — they prepare charts, jot down training details and upload daily performances, thereby aiding analysis.

Soaring target: Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who came up with his personal best in Jakarta, is considered a realistic medal prospect in Tokyo

The AFI’s inter-district athletic competitions, held every year, have also helped in picking out the winners from remote towns and villages. Many of the Jakarta medal winners first made their mark in these games. “It is among the largest such competitions in the world. Look at the talent that has come through the competitions — Neeraj Chopra, Hima Das, Swapna Barman, VK Vismaya,” points out Sumariwalla.

“Everyone wants to know what next? It is heartwarming,” adds Rathore.

Silver shine: Dutee Chand came back with a bang, winning the 100m and 200m silver medals

Looking ahead

The problem, however, is that Indian athletes often fade out just when they are believed to be at their peak. At Ostrava games, for instance, barring Arpinder, none of the Indians who had won medals in Jakarta, featured in the best three. Chitra stood fourth and Anas, fifth.

Veteran sports journalist KP Mohan puts the Asian Games scorecard in perspective. World-class standards are achieved when an athlete clocks a certain timing, and competes and wins against better athletes regularly. “It is always possible, though extremely unlikely except in the case of javelin thrower Chopra, that out of the blue, an Indian might win an Olympic medal. But just based on the Asian Games, we cannot say we have found out anything new. The only new thing is that after a very long time Indians have won gold medals in events such as 1500m and 800m,” he adds.

Two athletes, he believes, have displayed world-class performances and have a realistic chance of figuring in the final or even winning a medal in Tokyo. “Chopra’s 88.06m and Hima Das’s 50.79 seconds are world-class performances,” he adds. The AFI, he says, has been working hard — it sent athletes abroad, hired foreign coaches and was among the few national federations that conducts competitions for all age groups.

“The general narrative about federations is that they are all crooks, criminals and thugs. We are immune to such talk and continue to focus on the athletes. The athlete is the centre point,” says Sumariwalla.

Two years from now, in Tokyo, it will be clear how central the athletes really are. Will they continue with the Midas touch? Or will it be the end of the race?

( With inputs from Vijay Lokapally )

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