Federation Cup: Delhi's Rohit overcomes personal loss to win 10k bronze
Delhi's Rohit Kumar (29:08.95) overcame personal tragedy to win the bronze medal in the 10000m race at the National Federation Cup Athletics championships in Ranchi on Monday.
It was a tough race to complete for the 22-year-old Rohit as he lost his mother just days before the competition. His coach Rakesh Yadav, who trains him at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here, motivated the youngster to travel with him to Ranchi.
"Just two weeks ago, his mother passed away because of a stroke and he was just not ready to compete. But it was an important tournament to qualify for the Asian Championships and I did not want him to miss. He has been performing well this season," said Yadav.
Though Rohit dipped below the Asian qualification timing (29:30.00) set by AFI for the Asian Championships, gold medallist Gulveer Singh (29:05.90) and second-placed Abhishek Pal (29:07.11) of Uttar Pradesh did better to reserve the two spots in the India team. "He had a very good race and he set the pace today. If the federation wants they can send a third entry as well," said Yadav.
Rohit also won Inter-University gold this year clocking 29:04.25 which is also his personal best.
Meanwhile, national champion Gulveer, who clocked his personal best in Gandhinagar last year (28:54.29), said he was looking to improve on the meet record. National coach Surendra Singh holds both the meet record (28.57.90) and national record (28:02.89) that came way back in 2007.
"The target was to better the national coach's record here but I fell short. Though I am happy that I have qualified for the Asian Championships and it will be my first international meet," said Armyman Gulveer, who hails from Aligarh.
"I wanted to take up running and when I joined the Army I got an opportunity. I seriously took up running only in 2021 after joining the Army in 2018. Winning at the National Games and now the Federation Cup has given me confidence that I can do better. National coach has been pushing us to break his record and we think we are getting there," said Gulveer.
However, Sanjivani Jadhav of Maharashtra, who won women's 10000m race, failed to make the cut for the Asian Championships as she clocked 33:32.73s and fell just short of the mark by (33:00.00)
IN 3000m steeplechase, Muhammed Nur Hasan and Priti Lamba made the cut for the Asian Championships.
Men 3000m steeple chase: Md Nur Hasan (UP) 8:30.56s, Vikram Singh (MP) 8:40.20, Sumit Kumar (Delhi) 8:48.49.
Women 3000m steeple chase: Priti Lamba (Haryana) 9:47.78s, Bhagyashree Lahanu (Gujarat) 10:24.03s, Komal Chandraka (Maharashtra) 10:25.32.
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