Surprise pack

He didn’t know it, but that was just what the doctor ordered. So when Beenamol eventually took him to her coach Purshottaman, in the late 1990s, the basics were in shape. Purshottaman, a former national 800 metres champion, was quick to realise the potential and started Binu off in his own — and Beenamol’s — event. There began the eternal relationship of a coach and student. Binu was hard-working, and his dedication, paired with Purshottaman’s experience, soon began paying dividends.

From state-level meets, which he won effortlessly, he was called to the national camp. There he trained with his sister and learnt from her the finer points of running.

In 1999, he was selected for the Asian Junior Championship in Singapore, where he surprised everyone by winning a silver medal. That proved to be a stepping stone to the senior ranks. And at Busan, he justified the selectors’ confidence and Purshottaman’s methodology to claim an unforeseen silver.

Never one to mince his words, Binu made a startling allegation at the post-race press conference, where he said the winner, Bahrain’s Rashid Mohammed, had ‘‘elbowed’ him right on his face.

Unfortunately Purshottaman was not in Busan to see his ward’s finest hour. Surprisingly, the Amateur Athletics Federation of India brought along Balakrishnan, coach to sprinter Anil Kumar, but simply ignored Purshottaman. The big question now is, who gets the money that the government gives to the coach of the medal-winning athlete? Purshottaman or Balakrishnan? There are enough to share the spotlight when it comes to winning; whenever a Kerala athlete won, there was a big contingent of officials from the Kerala Sports Council rushing to the track faster than the athlete. They appeared on TV, even got themselves photographed with the winning athletes. But a gleam in Binu’s eyes when he saw the national flag from the victory podium said a different story.

Norris Pritam

Saraswati’s Puja gift

It’s the best Puja gift for the sports-mad Bengalis: Their own Saraswati Saha winning a gold at the Asian Games. She’d been marked up for a bronze, at best, in the 200 metres but a gold was beyond expectations. The Chinese and Japanese coaches were amazed to see the Indian runner setting the track on fire, with style too. The less charitable will point out that Susanthika, the favourite to win, withdrew from the race, but that should not take any gloss off Saha’s feat.

Medal won, Saraswati drew even more appreciation at the press conference that followed for her attire and the nose ring and sindur that she wore as a married — for two years — Indian lady. Almost every woman volunteer in the interview room wanted a photo with her. And when a journalist gave her a mobile phone to call her husband Amit to break the news, she blushed and fumbled for words and let her smile do the talking.

‘‘I think this medal is a tribute to my parents,’’ she said after winning. Her reference was to the sacrifices they made to get young Saraswati up and running. No wonder, then, she said that she would spend her Rs 20 lakh cash award for getting ‘‘better sports facilities and diet.’’

Back in the South Tripura village that Saha grew up in as one of seven siblings, she received no formal education; instead, at the age of 11, she began taking part in sports. Rural Tripura wasn’t the best place for sportsmen to flourish, so, winning a talent search contest organised by the Sports Authority of India, she went to Bandel, near Kolkata, and settled there. Not only did her sporting career blossom, so too did her relationship with long-jumper Amit Saha, who trained her and eventually married her. There was a lot of hard work involved in moulding a champion out of her, but it began to pay off when, in 1996, she represented India at the Asian Junior Championships. She won a silver in the 200 metres and led india to gold in the 4×100 relay. The next year, in the next edition of the meet, she won gold in the 100 metres. Even that, though, didn’t prepare her — or any of the observers, officials, journalists and hangers-on — for the surprise of winning the 200 metres gold at Busan. There was one sore point, though: Amit wasn’t there to enjoy the moment. Knowing Saraswati, there will probably be others.

Norris Pritam