Seema
Antil: A sign of things to come for Indian athletics
Steven Downes
8 January 2001 - Athletics is the most universal of sports - with 210 Member Federations, the world governing body (IAAF) is able to fly the flags of more nations at its events than the United Nations.
Yet one of the world’s major nations - in terms of population and increasingly in terms of economic strength - has never yet managed to finish on the medals table at a senior global championships.
After the women’s discus victory of Seema Antil at the recent World Junior Championships, though, all that seems about to change: India could be on the verge of taking up its place as a major athletics nation.
Before Antil’s golden success at Santiago de Chile in October, the best performance by an Indian athlete at a world championships or Olympics had been by another woman, PT Usha, who took the fourth place in the 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Antil, though, could be a sign of things to come for Indian athletics.
Antil made Indian sporting history when - having led the competition into the sixth and final round - she found herself suddenly relegated from the gold medal spot. It was then that she launched the disc 55.27 metres for a thrilling victory with the very last throw of the competition.
Before Santiago, Antil had trained with her senior counterpart, Neelam J Singh - a disappointing 26th in the women’s discus at the Sydney Olympics - under the guidance of her husband and coach Jaswant Singh, and gave a glimpse of her potential when she beat Neelam at the Open Nationals in Calcutta - it was Neelam’s first defeat in two years.
Antil, aged 18, comes from a country, peasant background, brought up in Sonepat in northern India’s farming state of Haryana.
She provides a glimpse of a quiet social change with an increasing number of hardy young women from rural India striving to succeed in demanding physical sports.
India has already taken great sporting encouragement from the bronze medal won in Sydney by 69kg category weight-lifter Karnam Malleswari - taking the opportunity of women’s weightlifting being included in the Olympic programme for the first time to become the first woman from India’s one billion population to win an Olympic medal.
The bronze was India’s only medal success in Sydney.
In India’s vast rural heartland, traditional taboos are being eradicated, and women, thanks to growing exposure to physical activities, are proving to have great potential.
"Rural girls are physically very strong as they tend to cattle and help out in farm work," said Maharaj Kaushik, India’s former chief hockey coach.
Antil comes from a sporting family. Her eldest brother, Anandpal Singh, is an international wrestler and another brother, Amitpal, is a hockey player.
However, Kaushik said that while rural talent was rich, better training facilities are still needed.
Sporting officials hope that victories and medals will encourage companies to start sponsoring sport in India other than cricket - and start to back women’s sport, too.
Recent tax incentives for funding Olympic sports in India could further help. Even the 200 metres bronze medal won at the Sydney Games by Susanthika Jayasinghe, from neighbours and great rivals Sri Lanka, is seen as an example of what can be achieved.
Antil, tall and rangy, only took to the discus a year ago, having started out as a high jumper and hurdler.
Former national coach Joginder Singh Saini, who is in charge of the junior programme, says that there are now plans to send Antil to Europe for extra competition and training. An offer to use training and coaching facilities in Germany is being investigated.
The success of youngsters such as Antil could be vital to India’s sporting plans.
Although New Delhi has successfully staged the Asian Games, repeated bids to bring the Commonwealth Games to the Indian capital have been rebuffed. Greater international success, across a range of sports, by Indian men and women, will only serve to help India’s dream of bringing the Commonwealth Games - and maybe even the Olympics - to the sub-continent.
