Missing athletes should be stopped from national competitions for six months, says Usha
The Hindu
‘It’s not nice when athletes say they are injured all the time’
Stan Rayan
KOCHI
As the celebrations continue over the country’s maiden Thomas Cup badminton triumph, one felt it was a good time to have a look at how much Neeraj Chopra’s historic gold at the Tokyo Olympics has changed Indian athletics.
“Small developments have happened but I don’t think a massive change has come about,” said P.T. Usha in a chat with The Hindu.
“Neeraj’s gold has inspired youngsters, made them believe that they could win Olympic medals too. But we should be able to maintain that tempo.”
Kiren Rijiju, the then Sports Minister, inaugurated the Centralised Athlete Injury Management System last year but many top stars still seem to be carrying mysterious injuries and avoiding competitions.
“We don’t understand the injuries. Of course, injuries are a part of sport but it’s not nice if people say they are injured all the time,” said Usha, one of the greats of Indian sport. “We should work towards prevention of injuries, our injury management system should be top class.”
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.