The Future

Sahana Kumari(High Jump) The lean frame of Sahana Kumari battled it out alone after leaving her competitors for dead. The 24-year-old defend...

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Sahana Kumari
(High Jump)

The lean frame of Sahana Kumari battled it out alone after leaving her competitors for dead. The 24-year-old defending champion had nothing to lose but her resolve to raise the bar even after she had equalled the meet record was admirable. Protege of former high jump champion Nalluswamy Annavi, she continued to mutter ‘‘I have to improve’’, even while interacting with the media hours after she had completed her routine.

Manjit Kaur
(400m)

All of 20 years, Manjit Kaur exploded at Athens by running the anchor leg of the 4×400 metres relay clocking 49.81 secs. That she failed to compete in the final is a different story. ‘‘Maybe if I compete in more international meets, I should be able to improve my timings (in the 400 metres)’’, she says. The Gurdaspur-lass had set the national record (51.05 secs) three months ago, which paved her selection to the Indian squad

BL Bharathi
(3000m Steeplechase)

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She came as a bolt from the blue at the Mumbai Nationals. Competing in her first ever top meet, this 21-year-old Karnataka girl ran free of inhibition and, leaving favourites B Hemlatha and L Manjula by the wayside, clocked 11:07.13 mins to set a new meet record. Incredibly, she only learnt about wearing spikes and other fine points of running 3 weeks ago when she joined the SAI centre in Bangalore

Preeja Sreedharan
(5000m)

Having finished a dismal 4th in the 1500m, she promised us that she would win the 5000m. The 22-year-old dimunitive Malayalee girl from Idukki, a BA degree-holder, won the event logging 17:43.22 mins, way behind the national record of 15.59.06. ‘‘I ran for the medal’’, she chuckled. ‘‘I will improve upon my timings later.’’

VS Surekha

(Pole Vault)

An oddity of sorts, she trains with the boys (because she is the only girl training under coach R Manickraj), is a bachelor in corporate secretaryship and creates havoc when handling a 4.5 metre pole. She wasn’t expecting much from the Mumbai meet as a shoulder pain was proving to be a huge deterrent. But all that was vanished when a competitor scaled 3.30 metres in her first try. ‘‘That spurred me on’’, she says. The 20-year-old Southern Railway commercial clerk based in Chennai soared away to a new national mark, eclipsing her own record (3.51) by 0.04 metres. Adjudged best woman athlete of the meet.