His current occupation of discus throwing and shot putting betrays both his frame and his initial aspirations.At six-foot-nine, Vikas Gowda could easily pass off as an NBA player or a heavyweight judoka. And had he not grown taller and stronger in as quick a time as he did, depriving him of his speed, he would hve been a sprinter.Gowda is the lone Indian male representation at Helsinki World Championships.A student of North Carolina University, Vikas had left the Indian shores when he was seven and since then has nurtured a dream of winning a medal for his country of origin. Sport was in his blood as his father is a former India decathlete and coach, Shive Gowda, and his elder brother a thrower himself.Gowda had narrowly missed the qualifying mark at the Athens Games but was always a favourite at his collegiate events. "The experience of Athens and the stage as big as the Olympics makes you feel confident about yourself. You tend to pick up some vital aspects in throwing and it was a good learning experience," he said. Vikas had missed the finals after failing to achieve the qualifying norm of 61.91 as he managed to heave the disc to 61.39 at Athens.Gowda was first noticed when he finished eighth in shot put and 12th in discuss during the world junior meet in Kingston (Jamaica) in 2002. Since then, he has not looked back as he became a regular for his University teams and won laurels for it.Incidentally, Vikas became only the second Indian after triple-jumper Mohinder Singh Gill to win an athletics medal in the American Collegiate competitions this year.Vikas was also the favourite for the discus title at NCAA Track and Field championships at Sacramento, California. But, he finished behind Stanford’s Michael Robertson.Going into the collegiate event, Vikas had led the chart at 64.69 — his personal best and a national mark — at Charlotte in April. His progress has been quick and precise. He was among the top six in Asia two years ago and last year set the national record with a throw of 64.35 at Salinas before Anil Kumar overhauled him at 64.37. But Vikas had overtaken Anil yet again after his Charlotte showing.Fails to reach finalsVikas Gowda has failed to make it to the finals at Helsinki too, although he bettered his Athens performance (61.39 metres) as he had a series of 61.66, 62.04 and 61.90 in the qualifiers here. The last qualifier, Jarred Rome from the US, who made it to the finals had measured 62.72 metres.
