Latest news with #Borgohain
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Indian sports wrap, June 1: Lovlina Borgohain set to launch her boxing academy in Guwahati
BOXING Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain set to launch her boxing academy in Guwahati Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain is set to launch her own academy, which will be inaugurated by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati on Tuesday. 'This academy is more than just a training facility. It's a dream realised and a promise kept to myself and to the countless young boys and girls in Assam who dream of stepping into the ring,' Borgohain said. 'With the Lovlina Boxing Academy, my deepest desire is to create a nurturing environment where aspiring athletes not only learn the art of boxing but also develop the resilience, discipline, and unwavering spirit needed to succeed,' she added. The Lovlina Boxing Academy is a testament to Borgohain's commitment to nurturing raw talent and providing them with world-class training and infrastructure. It also marks a historic step in the development of sports and sporting infrastructure in the north-east region of India. -PTI FOOTBALL Geno FC appoints Francisco Bruto da Costa as Head Coach ahead of 2025-26 season Geno Football Club is proud to announce the appointment of Francisco Bruto da Costa as the Head Coach of the senior team ahead of the upcoming season. A seasoned tactician with a wealth of domestic and international experience, Bruto da Costa brings elite-level knowledge and leadership to the club as it continues its mission to build a competitive, professional footballing institution in Goa. Francisco, a native of Margao, Goa, holds the prestigious AFC Pro Licence, the highest coaching qualification issued by the Asian Football Confederation. His coaching journey includes high-profile roles with the Indian national teams, SC East Bengal, NorthEast United FC, and Kerala Blasters, alongside international assignments in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Vietnam. He most recently worked with Cong-Viettel FC in the Vietnam League 1 and the Egyptian national team with Carlos Queiroz and players like Mohamed Salah. Geno FC is also pleased to confirm that Joyner Antao, former coach at Sesa Football Academy, will join the technical team as Assistant Coach. -Team Sportstar
Time of India
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Amlan eyes relay gold at Asian Athletics
There were high hopes from Amlan Borgohain after the Assam sprinter broke the 200m national record in 2022 and followed it up by running 100m in 10.25 seconds. But he failed to keep up the good show in 2023 that also included sixth-place finish in the 200m final at Asian Games. It was a tough pill to swallow but what happened a month later was something that would bruise him for life. Amlan's mother — his biggest supporter and inspiration — who was undergoing dialysis for some months, passed away. Then two months later in January 2024, he suffered an injury during a practice session that made things even worse. But 2025 holds a lot of promise for the Assam sprinter not only because he has done well personally but he was also part of the 4x100m relay team that broke the national record during Indian Open Relay Competition in April with a time of 38.69 seconds. The quartet of Borgohain, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur and Manikanta Hoblidhar will now be hoping to repeat their feat during Asian Athletics Championships from May 27-31 in Gumi, Republic of Korea. "We want to win gold there but it will be very tough because in order to do that we will have to pass around the baton perfectly," said the sprinter during an exclusive interaction with TOI. It's actually not an unrealistic aim considering the South Korean men's team won the bronze in 4x100m relay during the Asian Games in 2023 with a timing of 38.74 seconds. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like IIT Delhi AI Programme IITD TAILP Apply Now Undo But as athletics director with Reliance Foundation James Hillier also said, the team will have to perfect the art of passing the baton in order to finish on the podium and they have been practicing that under his watchful eyes during the training camp in Mumbai over the past few weeks. While Hillier has been more than pleased with their performance, what he is happiest about is how Borgohain has made a comeback from his injury. "The injury happened because he was running too fast too soon. He got himself into brilliant shape and just did one rep too many, and the body just wasn't quite ready for that level of intensity. So he hurt his hamstring," he said. "It was a bit unfortunate but he's over it now and he's healthy now. And he's definitely back in the zone." Besides the injury, Hillier is well aware that the loss of his mother was also tough on Borgohain but as he said, he is finally able to get things 'straight'. "It takes time. You don't have to rush the process. But I might have rushed it a bit since last year was the Olympic year and I was in the rankings," said Borgohain before adding, "So it took me a long time and I'm still processing it. But I think I almost got my things straight. My training and everything is going great. Now I have to figure out my competition part." While time has played a big role, what have also helped are his teammates. As the sprinter said he and Hoblidhar are almost like brothers. And they trust each other and have their backs. And hopefully it's just what they will need come next week to finish on the podium.
Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
The 10-second project: Inside Indian athletics' most ambitious programme
SPEED,' Manikanta Hoblidhar beams, 'has been my constant ally. Only ally.' And so, he sprints. Towards a goal — to see his bank balance soar to at least Rs 40 lakh to build a house he can call home. He runs. Because very early in life, Hoblidhar — abandoned by his father and raised by a single mother who passed away in 2020 — realised that running, and not running away, could solve his many problems. 'If I run, run fast… if I achieve something big, I can make a good name for myself and my family,' says Hoblidhar, India's second-fastest sprinter. He is also a goofy 23-year-old from Udupi, unshackling himself from a turbulent childhood — 'the world isn't interested in your problems, so why be sad,' he says. 'He's always smiling… always making others smile,' says Amlan Borgohain. Borgohain knows a thing or two about masking pain. As a child, the sprinter from Jorhat, Assam, was bullied for a stutter. 'Jaldi bol,' his classmates and teachers mocked him. One of India's fastest men, the 27-year-old can now turn around and tell them, 'Jaldi chal!' Borgohain's body is covered in ink. A lightning bolt on the side of his neck, 'maa' inscribed on his left forearm and a slogan in Sanskrit on the ribs. He oozes coolness, a feature common to most sprinters. And exhibits unwavering clarity. 'Everything happens for a reason,' he says of the bullying episodes. 'I choose to remember only the good things.' In 2022, Borgohain set the 100m national record with a timing of 10.25 seconds. As he scorched the track, Gurindervir Singh watched in admiration from his sports hostel in Amritsar. Today, 'Guri' is a muscular 24-year-old who runs like a breeze. Back then, he was all skin and bones, bogged down by an infection so severe that he lost '8-9 kg in 20 days', which he puts down to years of drinking 'contaminated water' and 'raw rotis' served in 'unhygienic conditions'. 'Wahi, dedh sau rupay ki diet (The same Rs-150 diet),' he says. It's a reference — a gripe — commonly heard in dining halls across sports hostels in the country that serve low-quality meals. 'My intestines were completely damaged. I couldn't even digest khichdi or curd. There were days when I couldn't even retain water,' Singh says. 'I couldn't even walk properly!' The thought of sprinting didn't even occur. Far away, in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur, Animesh Kujur's story started with a plea. On October 20, 2022, the sprinter — tired of running into walls — took the desperate step of messaging James Hillier, the Brit who oversees the athletics programme at Reliance Foundation, where some of India's best athletes train. 'Sir,' Kujur began, 'I am an athlete from Chhattisgarh and last year only I started my athletics career in 100m and 200m…' He shared his CV, listing every result, and begged for an audition. It broke his heart that the message was left unread. The paths of these four, fast men from India's North, East and South have converged in the West, where they now live and train at an institute in Navi Mumbai. They also find themselves at the starting line of a rare, exciting chapter in Indian sport called 'Project Sub-10' — running the 100m sprint in under 10 seconds, considered the hallmark of a world-class sprinter. Until three years ago, it was a fanciful thought. But after three major sprint records were shattered in the last three months — Gurindervir set a new national 100m mark in March, Kujur broke the 200m record in April and this month, the four of them got together to rewrite the 4x100m relay record — the buzz is unmistakable. Gift and grind make an elite athlete. In the case of India's fastest quartet, there's an element of defiance too. 'When I came to India (in 2019),' says Hillier, Director of Athletics at Reliance Foundation, 'People would tell me, 'No girl can run under 13 seconds for 100m hurdles'. They'd say, 'No one can run 10.20 for the 100m (men's), no one can run under 10 for the 100…' I said, 'Why not?' 'Invisible ceilings are being created all over the place. People are being told, 'You can't do that'. And everyone just blindly believes it. No one could ever give me a rational reason why. They might say, 'Oh, you know, we're genetically inferior or we're genetically this or that'. That's complete nonsense.' Hillier has a history of walking the talk. He was told India's women stood no chance of winning at hurdles. He proceeded to make Jyothi Yarraji one of Asia's finest. The Andhra sprinter won a silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games, a first by an Indian woman — and who knows, if not for a series of organisational blunders, it could well have been a gold. As the 2026 Asiad fast approaches, Hillier now has his sights set on ensuring an Indian presence in the blue riband events — the 100m and 200m sprints, and the 4x100m relays. Every single minute of the sprinters' day is designed keeping this big picture in mind. On a muggy evening, the country's four fastest runners — who train together at the sprawling Navi Mumbai institute — are standing in a queue, an arm's length from each other and spot running. Every alternate second, a booming voice goes, 'Up!'. Instantaneously, the runner in the front puts his one arm backwards and the man behind him brings the opposite arm forward. The baton exchange is done in a smooth, singular motion. This plays in a loop for a while before they move to the track. Training cones are placed at a distance of 30m and 60m from the starting line and one by one, they sprint through the timing gates and pass the baton. Here, they confront the ultimate relay dilemma: run too fast, and there's a danger of dropping the baton; focus too much on the baton and the speed suffers. Individually, the sprinters are in shape to run 100m in 10.1 seconds, Hillier attests. In an Indian context, that will be another giant leap. But at an Asian or a world level, it still won't be good enough. Bring their powers together, however, and you get a relay team fast enough to challenge for an Asian medal, which India hasn't won in 46 years. This kind of attention to detail, access to equipment and investment has never happened before in sprints, Borgohain, the senior-most of the four sprinters, says. 'I feel money is the biggest reason because individually, we all come from humble backgrounds. We now have better quality of coaching, improved facilities, get the necessary supplements, there are exposure trips abroad… all this didn't happen earlier,' Borgohain says. For Kujur, it's the change in mindset that coaches like Hillier and his colleague at Reliance Foundation, Martin Owens, have ushered in. 'The mindset of Indian coaches is like, 'Keep running, keep running, keep running'. The more the reps, the more the endurance will increase,' he says. 'The foreign coaches will break everything down… the last 30m, the top end, the middle portion. According to that, they schedule the workouts.' Kujur sees the improvement. When Hillier and Owens took him under their wings, he was running in the range of 10.8 seconds. Last month, he ran a national record 10.2 seconds. The gears have been turning over the last two years. Individually, never before in India's sprint history have runners pushed one another to such limits, constantly raising the bar. Records that stood the test of time are now under threat every time one of them steps on the track. In October 2023, Hoblidhar shattered the seven-year-old 100m national record by clocking 10.23 seconds. But this year, at the Indian Grand Prix in March, Singh ran a breezy 10.20 seconds to improve the record. By Indian standards, it was a fast race, with Hoblidhar improving his personal best by 0.01 seconds. Two sprinters pushing 10.20 seconds in one race? That's unheard of on India's tracks. More history was waiting to be rewritten. Borgohain held the 200m national record since 2022, with a 20.52-second sprint. On April 25, at the Federation Cup in Kochi, Kujur obliterated that mark. In conditions that were far from suitable for quick running — it was so humid that athletes complained of their energy being sapped merely by standing on the track — Kujur completed the 200m in 20.40 seconds. From the sultry shores of Kochi, the quartet landed in the dry heat of Chandigarh five days after Kujur set the 200m national record. 'We were all dead tired,' Borgohain says. They teamed up for the first time for a relay race, representing Reliance Foundation at a Relay Carnival. 'We got together just an hour before the race. There was no time to strategise, so we just told each other, 'Don't drop the baton!',' Hoblidhar laughs. When they stepped on the track in the heats, there was no sign of fatigue. Singh, Kujur, Hoblidhar and Borgohain clocked 38.93 seconds, only 0.04 seconds behind the 15-year-old national record set by Rahamatulla Molla, Suresh Sathya, Shameer Mon and Abdul Najeeb Qureshi at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Lured by the glamour of the relay, the few hundred who stayed back for the final were treated to some of the finest sprinting ever seen on Indian soil. Starting in lane 3, Singh jumped quickly off the blocks and engaged in a smooth baton exchange with Kujur. Excellent on the bend, Kujur started building a lead and ensured a slick transition with Hoblidhar, who in just a few casual strides, pulled away from the pack. By the time he passed the baton to Borgohain, the rest of the field wasn't even in the same frame. Borgohain, the anchor, stole a glance at the clock as he touched the tape and broke into impromptu celebrations. The timer next to the track flashed 38.69 seconds — the 4x100m national record was theirs. 'I knew it was a national record,' Borgohain says. 'If this was an individual event, I don't think we would have run so well. Here, we had a responsibility. We didn't want to be the person who let the team down.' Days later, they ran together again in Dubai, setting a meet record by clocking 38.76 seconds. For 15 years, no Indian relay team had run 4x100m in less than 38.89 seconds. In 10 days, this quartet did it twice. It's given rise to hope that on May 31, when the fast four will don the India jersey in Gumi, South Korea, they will do what hasn't been done in 46 years — win a 4x100m medal at the Asian Championship. India's last medal in this event at the continental event, a bronze, came way back in 1979. The best performance in the last 10 editions of the Asian Championship has been fourth place — in 2003, when the team clocked 39.69 seconds and in 2007 (39.84 seconds). At the last Asian Championship, in 2023, China won the silver medal with a timing of 38.87 seconds. Smooth, flawless baton exchanges, and the possibilities can make one go giddy. And within the bigger team ambitions are personal goals. Like Hoblidhar's dream to build a home. 'That's also why,' he says, 'a medal at the Asian Games, Asian Championships is crucial. I'll do what I know the best — run.'
Indian Express
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Competitors as individuals, fastest as a team: Gurindervir, Animesh, Manikanta, Amlan set 4x100m national record in first attempt
Just moment after the quartet of Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain broke the 15-year-old men's 4X100m relay national record at the Sector 7 Sports Complex, the four sprinters formed a huddle for their own private celebration. The timing of 38.69 seconds, recorded at the second Indian Open Relay Competition on Wednesday, bettered the previous mark by 0.2 seconds, all the more impressive as it was the first time the quartet competed as a team. All the four runners, who also compete in individual events, are part of the Reliance Foundation – Singh, Hoblidhar and Borgohain training together in Mumbai while Kujur does so in Odisha. 'We are not jealous and I don't feel bad when one of them runs better than me. We sprinters are like a family and push each other. Hence, we give each other a run of their money in the 100m races and want to do the same as a team in the relay format,' says Borgohain. The men's 4X100m relay team of Gurindervir Singh (Second from left), Manikanta Hoblidhar, Amlan Borgohain and Animesh Kujur, with coaches James Hillier, Athletics Director, Reliance Foundation (First from left), and Martin Owens, head coach, Reliance Foundation at the second Indian Open Relay Competition in Chandigarh on Wednesday. (express Photo | Jasbir Malhi) In 2022, Borgohain had set the 200m national record by clocking 20.52 seconds and last week, Kujur bettered his mark (20.40) at the Federation Cup in Kochi. The narrative is similar between Hoblidhar and Singh. In 2023, the former broke Amiya Malik's seven year-old 100m national record by finishing in 10.23 seconds. Singh went lower (10.20) at the Indian Grand Prix in March. 'Each one of us knows our strengths and weaknesses and even when we compete individually, we try to help each other improve. I am a good starter and with Aminesh being more of a 200m runner, he keeps asking me how to improve in that regard. So we discussed how to touch the starting block with the front leg, so that his start gets better,' Singh says. 'Similarly, Manikanta is very good on the curve on the track and Amlan is very good in terms of his push at the end. So these things, I discuss with them and it helps me in individual races. And now these have helped us as a team to break the national record.' Earlier on Wednesday, the quartet missed the national record in the heats by four-hundredth of a second. Singh ran the first leg followed by Kujur, Hoblidhar and Borgohain, it all came together in the final as they broke the record set by Rahamatulla Molla, Suresh Sathya, Shameer Mon and A Qureshi at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. It was the longest-standing national record in track competitions. The timing clocked by the quartet on Wednesday would have seen India win the bronze at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. 'It was the idea of our coaches James Hillier and Martin Owen to make us practise in this formation. We knew we had to stick to our strengths. Without that, we could not have achieved this national mark,' says Kujur. 'That's the combination we will run in and each one of us knows that he has to better himself in his own leg so that we are better as a team as well as individually,' says Hoblidhar, as he is approached by a spectator for a selfie. Time to improve further The World Relay Championships qualification will held in China next month. The top 16 teams from the Paris Olympics and the top 16 in world rankings till April 13 will make it, and the Indian team is currently on the outside. 'Each of them is a different individual. Gurindervir is a very good starter and strong athlete but an introvert. Animesh is a chaser and keeps asking questions. Manikantha is the speed merchant and Amlan has got the experience,' Hillier, Athletics Director, Reliance Foundation, said. 'And the one advantage they have is that they train together for much of the year and will compete in relays more from now on. This is unlike the US or Great Britain, where the top sprinters only train for 1-2 weeks in a year.' Hillier was cheering for the quartet from the stands along with Martin Owens, head coach, Reliance Foundation. Hillier, 47, who worked with the British junior relay teams from 2010 to 2016. 'We saw top sprinters in Great Britain not gelling together and there were multiple instances of dropping the baton. Such things can happen when athletes don't train together and also train under different coaches. I see these guys moving to 38.4s and 38.2s soon. Similarly the target now is to touch the 10.1 mark individually in the 100m and if one does it, others too would follow,' he said. Hillier believes not competing against world-class quartets was a major reason holding Indian relay teams back over the years. 'The key would be to compete in as many overseas competitions on different tracks like Mondo and they will improve further,' says Hillier. While the world leading time this year is 37.87 seconds, set by the Australian quartet of Joshua Azzopardi, Lachlan Kennedy, Christopher Ius and Calab Law, the British national record of 37.36 seconds sits in the name of Adam Gemili, Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake. At the 2017 World Championships, the British 4X100m relay team of Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemilli, Danny Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake won the gold with a timing of 37.47 seconds. At last year's Paris Olympics, the Great Britain team of Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchcliffe, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Zharnel Hughes had the country's first podium finish in the event since the 1988 Seoul Olympics with a bronze medal.
Time of India
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Animesh Kujur takes 200m gold in record time
Animesh Kujur Kochi: Odisha athlete Animesh Kujur not only pipped Amlan Borgohain to grab gold in the men's 200m but also erased the latter's name from the record books with an exceptional performance on the final day of the 28th National Federation Senior Athletics Competition at Maharaja's College Stadium here on Thursday. Kujur's time of 20.40 was better than the mark of 20.52 set by Borgohain three years ago. Borgohain, competing for Reliance, claimed silver with 20.80 sec, while Tamil Nadu's Ragul Kumar (20.85s) bagged bronze. One of the pre-race favourites, Karnataka's Manikanta Hoblidhar, was content with a fourth-place finish. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Animesh had a good start, but Borgohain was ahead of him till the first bend. In the final 70m, Animesh snatched the lead from Borgohain and pulled away from his rival to stun his rival. Although Kujur achieved the Asian Championships qualifying mark of 20.53 seconds, his effort on Thursday was well below the World Championships qualifying time of 20.16 seconds. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free P2,000 GCash eGift UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo Kujur acknowledged his rival Borgohain's contribution in helping him produce a record-breaking performance. 'He's (Borgohain) a 10.2 runner. So he gave me a tough fight. The bend is my favourite position and once I reached there, I got good pace and made it count,' said Kujur. In the men's triple jump, Praveen Chithravel equalled his own national record of 17.37m, securing his spot for the World Championships in Tokyo later this year. After achieving the mark in his third attempt, the 23-year-old athlete of JSW opted out of the remaining jumps. Two Keralites, Abdulla Aboobacker representing Air Force and Mohammed Muhassin (JSW), finished second and third with 16.99m and 16.28m, respectively. Later, Shaili Singh made a remarkable comeback from injury, leaping 6.64m to clear the qualification mark for the Asian meet. In the process, she also broke the 23-year-old meet record of her mentor Anju Bobby George, which was 6.59m set in Chennai. Reliance athletes Ancy Sojan (6.46m) and Moumita Mondal (6.45m) came second and third, respectively. All three achieved the Asian meet qualification marks. In men's shot put, Samardeep Singh of Madhya Pradesh upset two-time Asian champion Tajinderpal Singh (18.77m) to win gold. Samardeep also qualified for the Asian Championships with a best throw of 19.34m Also Watch: Sachin Tendulkar at 52: Power, Pride, and a Nation's Pulse
