‘After CWG and Asiad success,Indian athletes should target getting exposure in US and Europe’

It is encouraging for Indian athletics. They did well in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Competitions like these are always tough as countries like Japan,Korea and China also take participate in it and the fact that we won medals in Guangzhou will boost our athletes’ confidence. Athletics was always our strength in Asian Games. We witnessed some tremendous performances in 1958 from athletes like Balkar Singh and Mahadev Singh,and in 1982 also when athletes like PT Usha and Shiny Wilson took part. I congratulate the athletes for their performances.

*Apart from the Women’s 4X400 M relay race,we won medals in events like 400 M hurdles and 10,000 M race also. What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian team?

Athletes like Joseph Abraham did well but there still lies a long road ahead of them. His timing was of 49.96 seconds in the 400 M hurdles whereas the world record in the event is about 46.78 seconds. It takes more than two years to cut down on those two seconds and it will be very hard for them. The same goes for other athletes also. They should keep the momemtum going and should not relax. Our target should be to win medals in the Olympics. It will be the happiest moment of my life if I get to see an Indian athlete win a medal in Olympics,a feat which I narrowly missed.

*You won a gold medal in Cardiff Commonwealth Games apart from winning two gold medals in 1958 Tokyo Asian games? How tough it was then winning a medal?

I put in lot of hard work in achieving that feat. It took me more than five years to prepare for the event. I had to start from scratch and I participated in as many races as I could. Cardiff was of course the high point of my career. British athletes were good and the competition was tough. I defeated Malcom Spence there in Cardiff and it lifted my spirit a lot. Indian athletes should compete in international competitions on regular basis.

*How important is the role of a coach in an athlete’s performances? Should India have more foreign coaches for Indian athletics team?

Coaches play an important role in athletics. We need to have good and trained coaches. Their goal should be specific whether they are on contract or permanent basis. Athletics is a vast event and we should have coaches for specific events. My coach Arthur helped me win lots of races. He made me do work hard and kept motivating me. He was a great strategist and one of the biggest plus points was that he spent a long time with the Indian athletics team. When I broke the world record in 1958,we had worked day and night for more than two years for that. I used to do hill running,sand running,road running to cut down on time and it worked for me.

*Indian athletes have competed against Asian and some European countries in the last few months. How important is it for them to compete against the American and African athletes?

Our athletes need exposure trips and they need to take part in as many races in America and Europe as they can. They should chalk out a proper schedule and there is no point in competing in Asia again and again. PT Usha’s coach also committed the same mistake. She did not race much in America and Europe and narrowed her chances.