K J Clinton (© Norris Pritam)
India's modest tally of one gold, two silver and four bronze medals in the recently concluded Asian Junior Championshipsin the Malaysian city of Ipoh belie the popularity of athletics in the country.
In the eighties it was P T Usha who gave a boost to the sport in India, with her fourth spot in 400m Hurdles at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. More recently, Anju Bobby George's brilliant bronze medal in Long Jump at the World Championship in Paris rejuvenated athletics in the country. But performances by Indian athletes in Ipoh were disappointing and did not match the recent uplift the sport has been enjoying.
According to Suresh Babu, recently appointed as national coach for the juniors, “the team was not well-prepared and could not have done better than this.”
Babu should know. One of the finest former Indian athletes, Babu had represented India in High Jump at the Munich Olympics and later did creditably well in Decathlon. He had accompanied the Indian team to Ipoh.
In defence of the Indian athletes one can say the Ipoh meet came at a time when they were in the midst of exams. Talented female high jumper M Sangeetha is a case in point. A student of electronics engineering, Sangeetha went to Ipoh with very little training due to the pressure of her studies. She however claimed a bronze medal with a below par performance. Several other athletes were also occupied with studies when Ipoh call came.
K J Clinton was the toast of Indian squad, winning the men's Long Jump title with 7.57 metres. Sprinter Surinder Singh and javelin thrower Gurkirat Singh were the other impressive Indian medallists.
A token team will represent India at the World Championships in the Italian city of Grosseto next month, with Clinton leading the Indian challenge.
Brief biographies -
KJ Clinton
Long jump
He shares his name with the former US President Bill Clinton but for Koilparambil Jackson Clinton, the number one American is still Carl Lewis. He hero-worships the multiple Olympic gold medallist. “I love everything about Carl Lewis - his running action, take-off and landing. My dream is to be a world champ like him,'' says the junior national champion of India. It is a different matter that he has never met or spoken to the Indian long jump hero T C Yohannan who was the first Asian to cross the eight-metre mark when he had jumped 8.07 metres winning the Asian Games title in Tehran in 1974.
The nineteen-year-old (DOB: 9-2-85) won the gold in Ipoh with 7.57 against his personal best of 7.63 metres which he had done three weeks before the Asian meet. “It was very windy in Malaysia otherwise I would have done better,” he said on his return from Ipoh.
“I am sure I will reach 7.85 in the World Championship,'' a confident Clinton added.
More than winning the gold, Clinton beat Wang Minshang of China (7.50m) and Ko Dae-Young of Korea (7.36m). And this adds shine to his medal.
Sport runs in Clinton's family. His father was a good footballer while cousin Jetty Joseph, a national women's long jump champion. It was natural for Clinton to begin early in sport. He was eight when he first came to the track. “Yes, she was an inspiration,'' he says, recalling watching her cousin Jetty in action.
A junior national champion, Clinton is also the Indian Universities champion and like most Indian jumpers, Clinton belongs to the Southern Indian state of Kerala.
Surinder Singh
200m
His silver medal at the Asian junior meet in Ipoh naturally excited him yet he couldn't share it with folks back home simply because they don't have a telephone.
“I thought of the people back home in Hissar but there was no way I could tell them,'' the boy said after returning to New Delhi. Hissar is a small town about 400 km north of Indian capital of New Delhi.
Surinder was the second fastest qualifier in the 200 metres with 21.41. He improved it to 21.27 as he stayed in the same spot in the final for a silver medal. Positions on top, however, changed with the fastest at 21.28 Saudi Arabian Mussa relegating to the third spot in 21.36.
“Maybe if I had trained more before the meet, I would have beaten Mohammed Sanad,” said Singh. Sanad had won the gold medal with 21.16.
A tall and sturdy Surinder began in athletics six years ago. “I was used to high jump and hurdles in those days,” he recalled. His volleyball player brother Vinod Kumar was another influence on Surinder as he grew to an all round sturdy lad in his native rural township.
“Maybe this was the reason I was good in sprints.” He was indeed good in this department and justified it by ending up fourth in Ipoh meet, clocking 10.55. A final year student of Jat Senior Secondary School, eighteen-year-old (DOB: 3-2-86) is trained by Jai Singh Kaliram.
Interestingly Surinder regularly trains on a grassy track at a school in his native Hissar. “Once in a while I get to run on the synthetic track at the Mahavir Stadium near my house,” he says. His next target? “World Juniors Championships,’’ off-pat comes the answer.
Gurkirat Singh
Javelin throw
A medal in his first international appearance naturally excites Gurkirat Singh. “Only if things were in my favour, I would have done much better,” says the nineteen year old with a hint of regret in his voice. “As it is I was not familiar with the 90m javelin and then my spikes also got torn just after the first trial in the competition,” said a frustrated Gurkirat on his winning a bronze medal in Ipoh.
Born on 5 January 1985 in Punjab, a north India state, Gurkirat is a final year under grad at Mahindra College, Patiala. The college is well-known for its sports stars in India and Gurkirat is all set to emulate them.
“The biggest advantage of staying in Patiala is that I can train regularly under the best possible conditions at NIS,” he says. NIS or National Institute of Sports is situated at Patiala and has facilities better than most other places in India.
Gurkirat, however, was unlucky that he could never lay his hands on a 90m javelin that he was made to use in Ipoh. “It was something that I had never seen. I borrowed it from the Japanese thrower Imamiya Tsubasa for my throws,” said Gurkirat. As if this was not enough of a deterrent, his spikes also got torn after the first throw. “We don’t get good spikes for throwing in India. I even tried in Ipoh but couldn’t get them,” a dejected Gurkirat said on his return from Malaysia.
“Even with everything going against me I threw 67.22 metres,” Gurkirat said, to explain his plight. Silver medallist Japanese thrower Tsubasa, who gave his javelin to Gurkirat was only 40cm ahead of the Indian. Lin Heng Chi of Chinese Tapei won the gold with 67.73m.
“I had thrown 70.90m last year in my state meet and if things were in my favour, I would have won the gold,” he claimed.
Interestingly, it was Gurkirat’s uncle Ranjit Singh who put him on the javelin trail. “I was just 12 when my uncle used to throw in my native Giddarba village. And my job was to pick up the javelin at the other end and bring it back to him. As I grew a little bigger I began throwing it back to him and soon turned to throwing it in the competitions,” he recalls.
Trained by coach H S Shaid, Gurkirat is now determined to improve on his speed and run up. But at the back of his mind are the throwing spikes. “Maybe I will get them before the World Championship,” he says.
M Sangeetha
High jump
Petite Sangeetha was the darling of the meet at the South Asian Federation Games (SAF) at Islamabad, Pakistan in May this year. She had cleared 1.81 metres to win the gold with a new record. For the nineteen year old, it was one of the greatest moments in her life. But then it was back to basics - attempting new heights in electronics engineering, a course that she is pursuing in the Southern Indian city of Chennai
“The Asian meet came just when I was busy taking my exams and there was no time to prepare,” Sangeetha said. “Yes I feel bad that I had done 1.81 just over a month ago and in Ipoh, I could do only 1.75m for the bronze medal. But then the choice is difficult,” she said. “Only if I had carried all out training after the SAF Games, maybe I would have done better than 1.84 what Anna did to win the gold,'' she added. Behind Anna Ustinova's of Kazakhstan, Svetlana Radzivil of Uzbekistan got a silver at 1.80.
Born on 2 April 1985, Sangeetha began athletics when she was just eight. “It was at the State Bank Officer's Association School in Chennai. I used to see my brother Raja doing 800 metres and I followed him into athletics,” she racalls. “It was not just athletics, I copied him in music also and began learning it.”
But soon athletics found precedence over music. “I began training twice a day when I was in class six in school and the following year I represented my state in the National School Games.” She did only 1.44 to finish eighth but the seed for high jumping was laid.
In 2002 in the Asian Indoor Championship in Iran she sailed over 1.71 metres. “It was a good experience competing in the stadium with only women. Men were sent out when women's events were held and for me it was a new experience.”
Coached by M Riyaz, Sangeetha trains with her Royal Club mates at her college ground. She is determined to carry on high jumping after becoming an engineer with a burning desire of going over two metres.
Norris Pritam for the IAAF
