Animesh Kujur won a bronze in the 200m dash at the Asian Athletics Championships on Saturday, yet again highlighting the progress in Indian sprinting over the last year or so. Could we see a sub-10-second Indian finish in the next few years? Will we see some fantastic performances at the Asian Games, and can these runners realistically start to think of making the finals at LA 28 – in the 4×100 relay, for example?
These were the questions I asked James Hillier, Athletics Director at the Reliance Foundation, as he was about to leave for the airport in South Korea.
“The relay is a very different proposition,” said Hillier. “If you take a look at Team GB, they weren’t doing well for a while and then went on to medal in the 2017 worlds. The team that won did not have the fastest runner in it. That’s because the relay is not just about running fast. You don’t put the four fastest runners and expect results. It is also about chemistry and team bonding and a lot more.
“I could have easily put a team together that could have won a bronze in Korea. But that is not the idea. The idea is to play a high-stakes, high-gain game. They did 38.69 seconds recently and broke the national record. But that’s not going to get them into the final of a global event. They need to run sub-38. That’s what I am working on with them at the moment, and I am very confident we can get there by the end of the year.”
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The best part about this is that there is happy competition within the quartet, and it is no longer about Amlan Borgohain alone. You need a good crop to make things work and that’s what India have finally got at the moment. “Three years back, it was all Amlan,” said Hillier. “It was kind of boring. He would turn up and win. Now, that is no longer the case. Each of these boys can beat each other on a given day, and every Tuesday and Thursday are about bragging rights on the tracks in training. You can see the joy and banter, and that’s terrific to see.”
The best part of the conversation was when he said: “Animesh wasn’t happy with his bronze medal. He came up to me soon after the ceremony was over and said, ‘This is not a colour I like. I love the colour of gold, and that’s the medal I want. I hate to stand on one side of the podium.’ I said come back in two years and change the colour and stand in the middle.
“That’s the best part about Indian athletics now. They believe they can do it and win at this stage. Now, from Asia to the world level is a big jump. That’s where we need to get to, for I am not going to be satisfied with doing well in Asia alone. To answer your sub-10-seconds question, the answer is an overwhelming yes. I am looking at LA 28, to see these guys in the final. That’s very realistic with all the progress that we are seeing in front of us.”
It is very evident that a sprint revolution is underway, and it is now only a matter of time.
Also Read: Exclusive: The changing mindset in Indian athletics is never to be satisfied: James Hillier