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Hindustan Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
After setting NR, Afsal seeks tactical boost
New Delhi: Late last month, when Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath ran 1:48.33 to finish fourth at the National Federation Senior Athletics Championship in Kochi, he had lingering doubts about his technique and potential. He had started the season with a win at the National Games in Dehradun in February and followed it up with a second-place result at the Indian Grand Prix 1 in Bengaluru in March. The timings, however, were disappointing — 1:49.13 and 1:47.09 respectively. The Federation Cup was his third successive below-par run (1:48.33) in as many outings, and so Afsal approached his coach Ajith Markose at the Reliance Foundation centre in Bengaluru. 'We went through a few of my races and the coach concluded that I was slipping tactically. Timing the acceleration and pacing yourself are crucial in 800m, and the coach helped me in those aspects,' Afsal said. A fortnight later, Afsal paced himself better and broke the national record with a 1:45.61 run at UAE Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai to take the second place. He finished behind Kenya's Nicholas Kiplagat, who clocked 1:45.38s to win the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level competition. The previous national record was held by his Kerala statemate Jinson Johnson who ran 1:45.65 at the Guwahati Inter State Championships in 2018. 'I really look up to Jinson and running him close that day gave me the belief that I can break his record someday. Finally, it has happened and I hope it is the start of a new phase in my career,' Afsal, who is employed as a Junior Warrant Officer in the Indian Air Force, said. Jinson was among the first to call him when Afsal went past his mark last week. 'He is very happy for me. I have trained a lot with him and he has always helped me get better,' he said. Incidentally, Afsal's then PB of 1:46.79 had come in the same race in which Johnson set the national record but he has since struggled for consistency. 'I need to get tactically sound. I haven't had much international success but I feel with better planning, I will be able to deliver much more,' Afsal, the Hangzhou Asian Games silver medallist (1:48.43), said. 'I need to have a better understanding of pace. Like in Hangzhou, the Dubai final was a slow race while the semi-final was fast. In slow races, leaders tend to drop speed in last 100m, so it is all about conserving yourself and pushing at the right time.' The Dubai effort was Afsal's first sub-1:46 run of his career but it wasn't good enough to breach the 2025 World Championships automatic qualification time of 1:44.50s. Earlier, Afsal had also missed the marker (1:47.77s) for this month's Asian Championship. 'I would've made the cut for the Asian event had I planned my race better. I am now focussed on collecting enough ranking points to make it to the Worlds,' he said. Afsal is likely to head to Europe for a bunch of competitions in June for exposure he believes will help him get better. 'I truly believe Indians can run 1:44 provided we work on our tactical nous,' the 29-year-old concluded.
Hindustan Times
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Rupal runs back into the reckoning
LUCKNOW: Winning back-to-back gold medals in the national championships after staying away from athletics tracks for almost one-and-a-half years due to injury has been a big confidence booster for young sprinter Rupal Chaudhary. Having already qualified for the Asian Athletics Championship in May in South Africa and the World University Games in July at Berlin in Germany, Meerut's Chaudhary clocked 52.55 seconds to win the gold in the women's 400m run during the National Federation Senior Athletics Championship at Kochi on Tuesday. The performance wasn't a flash in the pan as she had clinched gold at the 6th Indian Open 400m event at Thiruvananthapuram this March. 'It's something very inspirational when you restart after a long injury layoff and win back-to-back gold medals in domestic championships. I would like to continue this form in the Asian Championship as well as World University Games,' said Rupal, who easily beat Asian Games medallist Vithya Ramraj of Tamil Nadu at the Thiruvananthapuram event. 'I always plan my every race differently as how to start and when to raise my pace always help me,' said Rupal on Wednesday after finishing her morning schedule at the national camp at Thiruvananthapuram. 'My hands are full with events this year and I am also aiming for a podium finish at the World Athletics Relays at Guangzhou this May and at the Continental Tour too,' she added. She, however, said her ultimate target is to make a podium finish at the World Championship this September, but she isn't in a hurry as the qualifying standards are very high (50 seconds) and she was taking small-small steps to achieve the goal. 'I can clock within the 50 seconds time, but that would be risky affair right now as I will slow down after achieving this, so I am not in a hurry and going forward to execute my plans with small steps,' Rupal added. She also said that despite being in rehab, she was always confident to stage a comeback. 'It was a freak accident when I sustained injury while trying to save myself from a cricket ball at Meerut's stadium, and even when I was in rehab in Mumbai, I didn't lose hope, but it was almost one-and-a-half years,' said Rupal, adding, 'But I am happy that I am back in action and getting good results for my efforts.' Rupal, who is being trained along with men sprinters at the national camp by Jamaican Jason Dawson, said that there was a lot of improvement in her running while running alongside men athletes. 'Lalit Bhanot Sir put me in training alongside men athletes under Dawson's guidance and it's helping me a lot in bettering my timings,' she said. At the 2022 World U-20 Athletics in Cali, Colombia, Rupal had a silver in 400m relay event before winning an individual bronze in the 400m and those medals brought a big change to her life. 'Those medals also made me realise my real potential. Being the first timer, I was a bit nervous, but I didn't see other athletes of the world and I just ran for a podium finish in relay,' she said. Before getting injured, Rupal had qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, but she couldn't go there as she fell ill. That was really a big setback to her dream of winning a medal at the Olympics, especially after winning twin medals at Under-20 Worlds in 2022.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Niharika Vashisht banks on social media earnings to fund her training
Niharika funds training through her social media hits Kochi: Niharika Vashisht grabbed eyeballs by beating local favourite Sandra Babu in the women's triple jump at the National Federation Senior Athletics Championship here on Wednesday. However, it's not just on the jumping pit that Niharika is garnering attention. A social media influencer , Niharika has quite a following on the internet. She is making prudent use of the revenue she earns from social media account by funding her own training expenses. 'Right now, I have 234K followers, and I havet enough projects to fund my training and buy supplements. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! I have also ensured that I handle my accounts without hampering my training schedule,' said Niharika, who became a social media influencer during the Covid lockdown. 'If I waited for sponsorship or support from the govt, I wouldn't have reached where I am right now. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like local network access control Esseps Learn More Undo I use the money I earn from social media to pursue my athletics career,' the 29-year-old from Mohali added. Her father, Ram Kumar Vashisht, resigned from a private sector job ten years ago to support his daughter's athletic aspirations. 'For the last few years, I haven't had to trouble my parents for my training. I'm able to manage my training with my earnings from the one or two projects I get every month,' reveals Niharika, whose mother is a teacher at the Govt Senior Secondary School in Gharuan near Mohali. At the 27th National Federation Senior Athletics Competition in Bhubaneswar last year, Niharika leapt to 13.07m but missed out on a medal by 0.01m in the women's triple jump. However, Niharika has made rapid strides since then, as was evident in her gold-medal-winning leap of 13.49m at the Maharaja's College Stadium. 'I changed my technique, mainly the run-up, after consulting my team. I changed my approach totally and worked on my speed, which is the real factor behind my improvement in the past year,' feels Niharika. Get the latest IPL 2025 updates on Times of India , including match schedules , team squads , points table and IPL live score for CSK , MI , RCB , KKR , SRH , LSG , DC , GT , PBKS , and RR . Don't miss the list of players in the race for IPL Orange Cap and IPL Purple cap .
Hindustan Times
21-04-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
NADA crackdown on coaches, asks athletes to name coaches and support staff
New Delhi:The National Anti Doping Agency is looking to crack down on coaches and support personnel who abet doping but often get away without any punishment, HT has learned. At the National Federation Senior Athletics Championship in Kochi on Monday, NADA dope testers asked every athlete to write the names of their coaches and doctors/physio on the doping control form before collecting samples. The development comes in the wake of chief junior coach Ramesh Nagpuri being suspended by NADA on Saturday for 'complicity' — he allegedly helped two athletes evade dope tests in SAI centre Hyderabad. Two more coaches -- Karamveer Singh (judo/athletics) and Rakesh (athletics) were also suspended by NADA for 'complicity' and 'administration of prohibited substance'. It is the first time that NADA is coming down hard on coaches in a big way. Dronacharya awardee Ramesh is known as Dutee Chand's coach and several promising juniors. There was an instance in the past when in 2022, Mumbai coach Mickey Menezes was punished and banned for 'complicity' when his trainee failed a dope test. But that remained a one-off. It has been learnt that at a recent meeting of stakeholders, former athletes have told top NADA officials that they need to hold coaches accountable and sanction them if they are found guilty. The Athletics Federation of India last year wanted athletes to name their coaches before competitions. While athletes are asked to provide their doctor and coach's name, they can also choose to tick 'none,' 'unknown' -- in case he is not aware of their names' or 'declined' while filling the same collection forms. The World Anti Doping Agency has the provision to ban coaches (Article 2.9) for 'assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, conspiring, covering up or any other type of intentional complicity or attempted complicity involving an anti-doping rule violation.' Federation Cup On the first day of the competition, javelin thrower Sachin Yadav won gold medal with a winning throw of 83.86m. Sachin has been in impressive form this season and his attempts (78.04, 80.22m, 75.97, 79.69m, 83.67m) were testimony to that. The top seven throwers were able to achieve the Asian Championships qualification mark of 75.36m. Sachin, however, failed short of achieving the World Championships qualifying mark of 85.50. Yashvir Singh came second (80.85m) and Sahil Silwal (77.84m) third. In men's 100m, Punjab's Gurindervir Singh strangely failed to make an impact. The Reliance athlete who broke the national record this season, finished last in the final on Monday. Pranav Pramod Gurav of Railways emerged the surprise winner with a timing of 10.27 seconds, beating established names like Animesh Kujur (10.32 seconds) and Manikanta Hoblidhar (10.35 seconds). No sprinter managed to breach the Asian qualifying time of 10.25 seconds. Gurav, who was travelling to the venue without a coach, celebrated his moment. His previous best was 10.54sec which came last year. 'I was not expecting to win gold here because the field was strong. It is a hard work of years. My grandfather who has supported me all through is unwell and admitted in ICU. I want to dedicate this medal to him,' said Gurav. In the morning session, Army's distance runner Sawan Barwal's improved his meet record in men's 10,000m and also qualified for Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea. Barwal clocked 28:57.13. He also won gold at the National Games this season. His performance was better than the previous meet record of 28:57.90 set in 2007 by Surendra Singh. The AFI (Athletics Federation of India) qualification time in the men's 10,000m was 29:33.26.
