Rupal Chaudhary becomes first Indian to win two medals at U20 Worlds
As the runners made their way to the starting line for the women's 400m race at the U20 World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia, all the talk was about the overwhelming favourite, Yemi Mary John of Great Britain who had brought a tiara to the stadium in anticipation of her win.
India's Rupal Chaudhary, who had already won silver in the 4x400 mixed relay, wasn't really part of this conversation. She was there, running in lane three, but the commentators didn't quite know what to expect.
Within seconds of the race starting, the focus shifted. Chaudhary got off to a quick start, moved ahead and stayed there right until the final straight which is when the superior cadence of Yemi Mary John won the day with a personal best timing of 51.50secs. Damaris Mutunga of Kenya won silver clocking 51.71s while the Indian came third with a personal best of 51.85s.
Neeraj Chopra's javelin success in Poland 2016 was followed by that of Hima Das' 400m in Finland 2018. Chaudhary's success continues that legacy on the track and it is precisely the kind of performance that warms the heart of athletics fans in India.
“Aaj mai apne desh ke liye daudna aur jeetna chahtee thee, isliye main apna pura dum lagay aur podium par aa gayi (Today I wanted to run and win for my country so I put in all my energy and made a podium finish)," said Chaudhary after winning the bronze medal on Friday.
She added: “I knew that this was my last run in the individual event here, so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. This was my fifth race in the championship, and I was determined to make it memorable too, especially after winning silver in the mixed team relay.”
The quick start had been part of Chaudhary's plan. She knew she needed to pull away early if she wanted to finish on the podium.
“I was focused on my own speed and did not care about others. After getting off the blocks, I just ran towards my target,” she said, adding, “I am happy that I could fulfil the promise to my father (Omveer Singh) who never wanted me to take up the sport initially.”
Early days
“It was quite difficult for me to start pursuing athletics," said Chaudhary, who will also run in the women’s 4x400m relay on Saturday. "I always wanted to run but my father didn’t want me to travel 18 km every day from my village to Kailash Prakash Stadium in Meerut. This could only be made possible when I sat on a hunger strike for three days. It compelled my father to take me to the stadium.”
Once there, Chaudhary wanted to focus on 100m and 200m. She had the speed but the big question was whether she had enough of it. Her coach Vishal Saxena, a silver medallist in South Asian Games (2006) in 200m and gold medallist in 4x100m, pushed her to look at 400m more seriously.
“She wanted to run only in 100 and 200m," said Saxena. "But I convinced her to do only 400m as scope for Indian athletes in 100 and 200m was almost zero going by the international standard.
"I have no words to describe how happy I am with her consistency. It’s just a beginning for her and I am sure she will be achieving more success in the near future,” said Saxena, who with his wife Amita Saxena, also a former India athlete, has been coaching around 50 athletes, including national medallists, in Meerut.
In the absence of adequate training facilities in Meerut, Saxena takes Rupal and a few others to New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Stadium for training at least thrice a week. Maybe this success will push the authorites to right the situation.
With one silver and a bronze, India are joint 17th in the medal table alongside Eritrea. The USA is sitting at the top of the standings with five gold, two silver, and three bronze followed by Kenya (3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze) with South Africa (2 gold, 2 bronze) third.
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