Target Rio: Running for country her ultimate goal

Ankita,who lives in Somwar Peth,clocked 14.45s on her way to the gold medal.

“Ankita has so much potential to grow as an athlete. The national record is just the start of things to come,” says coach Abhay Malekar. The 15-year-old has been training with Malekar at the Deccan Gymkhana for the past four years.

Ankita’s brush with athletics was when she was 11. Ankita was very keen on karate and one day her father took her to the Deccan Gymkhana to enroll her in a coaching class. Waiting for the karate coach,Ankita saw children practising on the track.

“I think they were doing some sprints and I thought that was really interesting. I was really taken up by how those sprinters just shot out of their crouched stance. That day itself I pestered my father to let me get into athletics.”

Ankita turned out to be a natural athlete. Just a year after starting formal athletics training,she won a silver medal at the school nationals at Balewadi sports complex. “It was clear when she bagged that silver medal that she was a natural,” says coach Malekar.

“Last year,Ankita’s 100m hurdles timing was 14.76s and this year she brought it down to 14.45s. I expect her to cut it down further by next year.”

Malekar says the target for Ankita is to put up a strong showing at the World Youth Championships slated for next year. “With the progress she has shown,I am confident she is going to be a challenger for a medal at the World Championship. If Ankita manages to get into the high 13s,a medal is assured,” says Malekar.

Ankita says that running for the country is her ultimate ambition and she is working on being in the Indian contingent for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Coach Malekar says that with a regimented training programme,she just might get there. “In India,a problem with our athletes is that they over-train. There is no need to put your body through so much stress in training. With Ankita,I have made it clear she has to appear only in four competition events a year,” he says.