National Games: Takes two to tango for wildcard Ladakh athletes | More sports News – Times of India

AHMEDABAD: Shujat Hussain and Sajjad Hussain are in their late 20s but never went to the National Games prior to the ongoing edition. Result-wise, their maiden outing wasn’t great, as they couldn’t clear the heats on Friday. However, winning here was not their expectation anyway.
The 100m sprinters are part of the three-member contingent from Ladakh, the third being their coach, Zakir Hussain. The National Games is the first time the Union Territory (UT) has sent a contingent for a senior level multi-sport event.
“We got a wildcard entry,” coach Zakir said. “There are only two participants from Ladakh, as sport is still in an infancy stage in Ladakh. This is the first time any athlete from Ladakh has participated in the National Games. Earlier, we were part of J&K, but our athletes could never make it to the state contingent,” the coach said.
“As athletes from the Jammu and Kashmir region had better facilities, the ones from Ladakh could never match up to be part of the squads. We are sprinters, but we don’t run on synthetic tracks, which we have none,” Sajjad, 26, said.
Shujat was a boxer but traded his gloves for running boots.

“We are both 25-year-old and started the sport only two years ago after the bifurcation of the state. I left boxing because we have no facilities at all. Running without a synthetic track was still better than boxing without a ring and kit,” he said.
Sajjad said they are late starters, but if given the opportunity, they can do well.
“Normally athletes start when they are 10–12 -years old. We started very late, but I still feel we can do well. We live in a high-altitude region and have very good stamina. All we need is good facilities and trainers who can guide us.”
The coach said the UT is starting from scratch to develop sports and register athletes, but they need funding to hire good coaches and procure equipment.

Chitravel takes triple jump gold
Tamil Nadu’s Praveen Chitravel won bronze in the men’s triple jump with his best jump of 16.68m, in the absence of big names like Abdulla Aboobacker, Karthik U and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Eldhose Paul.
Kerala’s Arun AB (16.08m) and Punjab’s Arpinder Singh (15.97m) won silver and bronze respectively.
Elavenil wins gold, opens account for hosts
Tokyo Olympics participant Elavenil Valarivan opened Gujarat’s account by winning gold in the women’s 10m air rifle event on Friday. Elavenil beat Karnataka’s Tilottama Sen of Karnataka 16-10 in the gold-medal match. West Bengal’s Mehuli Ghosh clinched bronze.

“I was shooting at my home range for the first time, but there was no pressure. I was rather excited to shoot in front of my friends and mother, who was also watching me in action for the first time,” Elavenil said.
In the men’s 10m air rifle event , Maharashtra’s Rudranksh Patil defeated World Cup gold winner Arjun Babuta of Punjab 17-7 to win gold. Madhya Pradesh’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar won bronze.
Haryana’s Anish Bhanwal took the men’s rapid fire gold after shooting 30 in the final. Ankur Goel of Uttarakhand (22) and Gurmeet of Services (18) won silver and bronze respectively.