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1 week ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie
In January, Servin Sebastian was on the verge of quitting race walking. A family matter had affected his mental peace. He didn’t have the mindspace to train. Servin had decided to head back home to his village, Edayathumangalam in Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu to be with his family, his army coach Ganapathi Krishnan, said. However, Ganapathi, a 2016 Olympian, didn’t want Servin to drop out.
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2 weeks ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie
When Gulveer Singh was a teenager, his ambition was to join the Army. In Sirsa, his village in Aligarh, there are nearly 700 men in forces. Aspiring to wear the uniform is the first career choice in Sirsa, the 26-year-old said. “Those who don’t make it try to join the police. There are about 10 to 12 policemen in Sirsa,” according to Gulveer. Along with hundreds of other youngsters, Gulveer ran on a mud ground near his home, aiming to pass the 1.6 kilometre Physical Efficiency Test.
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2 weeks ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie
The contrast between Hisar in Haryana and Oberschlettenbach, a village in south-west Germany, is stark. The latter is home to just 130 residents, has scenic hiking trails, forested mountains and old castles. The summers are pleasant. Hisar has a population of over three lakh, a bustling city centre with temperatures touching 43 degrees centigrade in May.
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3 weeks ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie |Sandeep Dwivedi
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1 month ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie
Praveen Chithravel, in only the third round of the competition, equalled his own national record in the triple jump and called it a day at the Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships. His celebration was noteworthy. Upon landing, he was sure it was a big leap. He jumped back up and raised both hands and flung a bit of mud in exultation. Then he sought out his coach Yoandri Betanzos, a two-time Worlds silver medallist, and they high-fived.
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1 month ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie
“Ab bhook aur ho rahi hai (Now, I am feeling hungrier),” Animesh Kujur said after breaking the men’s 200 metres national record. An outstanding run around the bend and smooth sprinting down the straight made Animesh a class apart at the Federation Cup as he also qualified for next month’s Asian Championships. The ‘bhook’ the 21-year-old spoke about wasn’t in reference to his dinner plans. Rice and dal was his lunch hours before he lowered the national mark from 20.52 seconds to 20.40.
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1 month ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie
It is easy to mistake Keerti Tiwari for an athlete. She’s in good shape, is lithe, and might as well have been one of the fellow jumpers egging on the participants in the men’s long jump. However, it turns out she’s a Sports Authority of India (SAI) coach with a Master’s degree in sports psychology from LNIPE in Gwalior, a deemed sports university. She’s on her feet every other minute during competition, reviewing each jump and quickly giving feedback to athletes.
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1 month ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie
It was nearly twilight when Dev Meena soared over 5.35 metres to rewrite his own national record in the men’s pole vault and establish himself as the country’s brightest talent in the highly technical event. The pole vault, the first event of the afternoon session, began at 2:30 pm. By the time Meena set the new mark, his torso and hip well over the bar, it was nearly 5:45 pm. Eight finals were completed during this time. Meena was the only athlete to break a national record.
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1 month ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie
Animesh Kujur, the National Games gold medalist, running in Lane 4 kept an eye out for Manikanta Hoblidhar, the former national record holder in Lane 3 in the 100 metres final. Manikanta had broken the meet record in the semifinals to make a statement. Yet, from Lane 2 emerged the surprise winner, Pranav Pramod Gurav.
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1 month ago | 
indianexpress.com | Nihal Koshie
A 3,200-feet high trek to a monastery in Bhutan brought Priya Mohan calmness, but she felt discomfort in her lungs. The high-altitude trek in October was during a family vacation. The 22-year-old had taken time off after prematurely rushing back to competition in March. A collapsed lung, a medical condition where air gets between the lungs and the chest wall and applies pressure, had put the brakes on the promising one-lap runner’s career two years ago.
