The short and long of it

The 57 Kumars effort of 7.92m wins India silver medal in long jump; Chinese teenager Wang Jinan bags gold with 7.95m

Six years ago,Prem Kumar Kumarvelu was hiding the fact he was training to be a sprinter from his mother Uma Rani. Prems mother had expressed her displeasure at him taking up sports and instead wanted her son to become a graduate. The loss of her husband Kumarvelu,a small-time farmer,when Prem was just three meant that Uma Rani,who worked as a house-keeper at the local Roman Catholic Church was the only bread-winner in the family.

However,Prem wasnt successful in hiding his new-found passion in athletics from his mother for too long. When his mother saw that Prem was happiest on the track,she mustered courage to ask the priest at the church,Father Celestine,for financial assistance. The priest gifted Prem a pair of brand new spikes which the athlete still keeps safely under lock and key.

Brave move

Soon,he shifted to the long jump and was setting records in the Under-18 and Under-20 categories. Considering that Prem,20,stands at just five feet and seven inches in a sport of lanky and wiry men,the decision to shift from sprints to the jump even seemed unsound. But what he lacks in height he makes up with strength,power and a technique that has been fine-tuned at the St Josephs Sports Academy in Chennai and at the Olympic Training Centre in Chula Vista,California,earlier this year,courtesy the Mittal Champions Trust.

On Friday,Prem saved his best for his last jump to stop a 1-2 by the towering Chinese jumpers and win silver at the Asian Athletics Championships. At the end of the third round,Prem had slipped out of podium contention with Shinichiro Shimono of Japan leaping to 7.71 metres for third place.

However,in spite of the rain getting heavier and his shoes becoming completely wet,Prem found an extra gear to register a jump of 7.86 in his fourth attempt,followed it up with 7.68 metres before producing his best effort of 7.92. That he didnt produced a single foul jump was down to his temperament.

Prem knew that if he had produced his best,he could have won gold. The winner,Chinas 16-year-old Wang Jianan jumped 7.95 metres,while the bronze was won by Tang Gongchen 7.89,also of China.

In early June,Prem had become only the fourth Indian male jumper to jump eight metres or more with a personal best of 8.0m at the Inter-state Senior National Athletics Championships. The silver,though,at an event of this magnitude brought a huge smile to his face.

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I really want to thank my mother because she worked hard to help me pursue my ambition in athletics. The logical step would be for me to pursue academics but I had the belief that I could make a career out of athletics. My mother wasnt very happy initially with my decision but today I think I have put to rest all her fears and have made her very proud, Prem said.

The Tamil Nadu athlete said that following his coaching stint at the training centre in Chula Vista he was able to gather more momentum at the take-off by throwing more of his body weight into the jump.

Huge potential

Sanjay Kumar Rai,who along with TC Yohannan and Amritpal Singh,is one of the Indians to have crossed the eight-metre mark,believes that in spite of being relatively short,Prem has the potential to touch 8.20m.

He has a big heart and is a very confident jumper,Rai said of Prem.

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There are some jumpers who dont believe they are not good enough though they are talented. In Prems case,he is not afraid to dream big. If he is able to add more strength to his legs,he will consistently win medals at the international level.

Prem was hoping to win gold here and qualify for the Moscow World Championships. It was not to be today, Prem said. But I have age on my side and I have a long way to go.