Muhammed Anees poised to leap out of the shadows Premium
The Hindu
Muhammed Anees, a havildar with Kerala Police, was an active kid. He left his home in Nilamel village for the SAI centre in Thiruvananthapuram, where he was selected for high jump. After a suggestion from his coach, he tried long jump and soon achieved success, winning silver at the Vijayawada Junior Nationals in 2014 and gold at the year-ending National Open in 2016. He has since entered the 8m club, with a personal best of 8.15m, and is now being coached by Anoop Joseph. He is aiming to qualify for the Paris Olympics and believes he can do 8.30-plus. With Sreeshankar and Aldrin leading the way, long jump in India is set for an exciting future.
Muhammed Anees was a very active kid. And so Ansar, who had coached his older brother Muhammed Anas, felt the youngster should try out athletics too.
But since the facilities at Kollam’s Nilamel village, where he lived, were not adequate, Anees left for the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Thiruvananthapuram, where he was selected at once. He began as a high jumper and sampled the 400m hurdles after a suggestion from SAI coach Nishad Kumar before a multi-event junior competition changed his life forever.
“I did the octathlon and did very well in the long jump. Seeing this, my coach Nishad advised me to focus on the long jump,” said Anees. “I couldn’t settle down in the high jump, I couldn’t get a proper arch in the Fosbury flop and so I started taking the long jump seriously.”
He was almost 19 when he took to the new event but was soon producing quality. He claimed silver at the Vijayawada Junior Nationals in 2014 (7.20m). After finishing runner-up at the 2016 Inter-State Nationals in Hyderabad (7.64m), he clinched gold at the year-ending National Open.
“Somehow, 2016 made me a confident long jumper. Apart from the Inter-State silver, I also did 7.80 in an Indian Grand Prix meet [in Bengaluru] that year,” he said.
With the Rio Olympics beckoning, 2016 was a magical year for many. Anas broke the 400m national record in Poland. Ankit Sharma bettered the national long jump record with a then eye-popping 8.19m in Kazakhstan. So, Anees was not short of inspiration during that period.
Surprisingly, the long jump has advanced by leaps and bounds since Rio 2016. Jeswin Aldrin (8.42m, national record) and M. Sreeshankar (8.41) occupied the top two rungs in this year’s world list for months before slipping to No. 3 and 4. This year alone, three men — V.K. Elakkiyadasan (8.09), P. David (8.05) and S. Lokesh (8.02) — entered Indian long jump’s 8m club.
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.