Where cricket is the only game recognised by sponsors, and athletes barely make the profile cut, the Mittal Champions Trust (MCT) has come forward and signed up national triple jump record-holder Renjith Maheswary for the next five months. The sponsorship will cover expenses of his training in the US for the Beijing Olympics.National jumping coach SS Pannu sees it as a god-sent opportunity. Renjith is among the country’s top three athletes who have achieved the qualification mark for Beijing. World bronze medallist in women’s long jump Anju Bobby George and discus thrower Vikas Gowda are the others .Renjith will be the second Indian athlete to train in the US. Earlier, women’s discus thrower Krishna Poonia had gone to the US. Poonia is training with Mac Wilkins, former world champion in discus. For the next five months Renjith’s training will be supervised by Irving Boo Schnexnayder. Irving is head of the US Track and Field jumping programme. Irving guided Walter Davis to the triple jump crown at the Helsinki World Championships in 2005.Pannu, who will also accompany Renjith, was elated at the prospect of training in the US. “I hope we can reap the benefits of the trip,” he said.MCT administrator Manisha Malhotra disclosed that Renjith will be training in New Orleans till the Olympics. “Renjith will be training in a better environment. Hope it helps him improve his performance,” she said.Renjith, who is currently training in Patiala with Pannu, is expected to leave for the US in the last week of this month.The 23-year-old jumper from the Kottayam district of Kerala shot into prominence when he broke the long standing record of Mohinder Singh Gill at the Guwahati Asian Grand Prix in 2007. In fact, last year, he claimed gold medals in all the three legs of the AGP. The same year, Renjith had also dominated the event in the Kolkata Federation Cup.Though Renjith went on to win the gold in the Asian Athletics championships in Amman, his jump of 17.19m was wind-aided and didn’t go into the record books. In August 2007 , the Indian jumper, however, failed to live up to expectations in the Osaka World Championships. He got eliminated in the preliminary round. His best in Osaka was 16.38m. Thereafter, his performance slipped, and faced defeat in domestic competitions too. Going by Renjith’s performance in the first half of 2007, it seems he is in the best form so far.The coach, however, didn’t want to divulge details, saying the target is Beijing. “We want to look ahead,” he said. He has also set a difficult task of 17.45m for his trainee. But Irving will determine Renjith’s training and competition schedule for the next six months. Pannu said: “I am yet to contact Irving. So, I can’t give details of the training plans. But it will be decided by him. I will only assist him (Irving),” Pannu said over the phone from Patiala.
