CHENNAI: When sprinter Siva Kumar B came to Odisha for the Inter-state Athletics Championships, his aim was to break his personal best in the 100m race — 10.32s in the Tamil Nadu Senior State Athletic Championship a few weeks ago. However, even as he won the race, the TN sprinter managed to clock 10.37s in hot and humid conditions. That is why, despite the triumph, Siva Kumar wasn’t all that pleased with his timing. “The climate was very hot, and with the dehydration it was difficult. Tried to correct the mistakes from the morning as I did a heavy warm-up at the time. It did not feel like my race at all. Later went in with a light warm-up and balanced it out,” he told this daily.
Another other reason he says was that he started celebrating well before the finish line. Ask him what happened, and he breaks into a laugh saying that he doesn’t even remember. “Here in Odisha, there is a lot of home support cheering for the local athletes. My mind was off and my body just took over. I have never done this before. After the race, many told me the same and now, I realise that I should not repeat this again,” says Siva Kumar. Crowd favourite national record holder Amiya Mallik was in the race but finished last.
Having been training all by himself since last year’s inter-state athletic championship, the 28-year-old from Salem said that it’s been a journey of experimentation so far. “I train with the help of some friends who are studying strength and conditioning and a friend who is a gym trainer. Former athlete Suresh Sathya has helped a lot as well. We started it as an experiment of sorts.
When you train by yourself, only you have to push yourself. There will be plans A, B and C, and you have to decide how to go every day based on how your body feels. You make mistakes, record videos, look at them and try to rectify them. We will know the results only when you take part in events.” The other significant challenge for Siva Kumar is the nutrition part of it.
So far, he has trained with either home-cooked food from his mother or his own cooking. Hailing from a middle-class family — his father has a welding shop in Salem and he is a Railways employee. “Nutrition is something I have to focus on. It is the only way to improve. I want to bring my timings below 10.20s, that is my aim,” he said.
Results (All finals): Women: 100m (AG Q 11.42s) Jyothi Yarraji (Andhra Pradesh) 11.46s, Srabani Nanda (Odisha) 11.59s, Himashree Roy (Haryana) 11.71s; 400m (AG Q 52.96s) Anjali Devi (Haryana) 51.48s, Himanshi Malik (Haryana) 51.76s, R Vithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) 52.49s; 1500m (AG Q 4:15.49s) KM Deeksha 4:06.07s (Madhya Pradesh) Harmilan Bains (Punjab) 4:08.50s, Chanda (Delhi) 4:09.39s; 35km women race walk: Manju Rani (Punjab) 3:21:31.00, Mamta Pal (Uttar Pradesh) 3:40:26.00, Komal (Haryana) 3:42:41.00; Men: 100m (AG Q 10.19s) Siva Kumar B ( Tamil Nadu) 10.37s, Harjit Singh (Punjab) 10.45s, Elakkiyadsan K (Tamil Nadu) 10.47s; Men 400m (AG Q 46.17s) Kalinga Kumarage (Sri Lanka) 45.64s, Muhammed Anas (Kerala) 45.76s, Muhammed Ajmal (Kerala) 45.90s; 800m: Krishan Kumar (Haryana) 1:46.17s, Mohammed Afsal (Kerala) 1:47.47s, Pradeep Sentil Kumar (Tamil Nadu) 1:48.10s; 35km men race walk: Juned (Haryana) 3:00:37.00, Eknath Sambhaji Turambekar (Maharashtra) 3:03:40.00, Vikash Kumar Yadav (Rajasthan) 3:06:06.00
