Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, January 31

Motivated by the success of his elder brother, who was a national level middle-distance runner, Goa’s Vijay Vishwakarma wanted to make a name for himself in sports. Coming from a football-mad state, there was only one sport on his mind.

However, destiny had something else in store for him. What began as a unplanned foray into athletics, on the insistence of the physical instructor at his school, has turned into an Olympics dream for Vijay.

Vijay won the gold medal in the 35km event at the 11th Indian Open Race Walking here today, finishing the race in 2 hours, 39.19 minutes. After winning his first national gold, Vijay remembered the series of incidents that led him to this moment.

“In school, I had good speed and stamina. Along with my friends, I appeared for the football trials and was selected for the school team. I played as a right-winger in district-level events before my coach asked me to try athletics,” said the 24-year-old.

“In my first athletics competition, I had to participate in three events. I was prepared for 1500m and 3000m races. When I was asked to pick another event, my coach just filled my entry for the race walk event. After finishing 11th, I thought about giving up athletics,” he added.

“However, with no other option and considering my financial situation, I continued with the sport to cover my expenses for academics and to get a daily portion of my diet,” he added.

Vijay’s training took a backseat when joined the army. “It was very difficult to run 20km every day and undergo various drills,” he said.

Just when he thought his athletics career was over, Vijay was spotted by Olympian Basanta Bahadur Rana. “It’s a privilege to train under him. In 2019, I was asked to join the Army Sports Institute and from then my focus is only on race walking. Like every athlete, I want to represent the country in the Olympics,” he said.

After 2nd gold, Manju eyes Paris Olympics

Punjab’s Manju Rani claimed her second gold medal in the Indian Open Race Walking championship here today. After winning gold in the women’s 20km race yesterday, Manju dominated the 10km event to brighten her chances of competing in the inaugural marathon race walking mixed relay at the Paris Olympics. “My main focus will be the mixed relay event this year and I hope to represent India at the Olympic Games,” said Manju, who clocked 45 minutes, 20 seconds today.

The 10km race was included in the programme by the Athletics Federation of India to select potential athletes for the national team that will compete at the World Athletics Race Walk Team Championships in Antalya in April. The top 22 teams in Turkey will get automatic qualification for the Olympics. The final selection of the national team for Turkey will be done in March.

The mixed relay at the Olympics will feature 25 teams, each comprising one male and one female athlete, who will complete the marathon distance (42.195km) in four legs of approximately equal distance. Each athlete will complete two legs of just over 10km.