Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Running ahead of everyone on the track, defeating financial constraints and overcoming mental pressure, a motor mechanic’s son from Madhya Pradesh has qualified for the upcoming Senior Asian Athletics Championship. After sweating it out on the running track for five years, the MP athlete Abhishek Singh Thakur has made it to his first international tournament. Abhishek qualified for the Senior Asian Athletics Championship that will be held in Bangkok in July after winning a silver in the men's 1500m run with a timing of 3:45.32 seconds in the ongoing 26th National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships being held in Birsa Munda Stadium, Morabadi, Ranchi.
In the ongoing national tournament, Abhishek ran against a national record and meet record holder Jinson Johnson, and Abhishek was second just by a margin of a few seconds. His father works as a motor mechanic in a garage. Being the eldest son, Abhishek shoulders many responsibilities. "I was running with the burden of being the eldest son of my family. This impacted my performance also,” said the athlete. Recalling the hardest part of his journey, Abhishek said, "There was some family problem, and I, being the eldest son, was affected by it. A few months ago, I couldn’t win medals; my performance was going down because I was running with a burden. I was mentally disturbed." "But then my coaches told me to turn this pressure into my strength and motivation, and then the performance drought was over when I clinched two medals in the open national," Abhishek added. Abhishek used to play cricket, but he switched to athletics because it was more financially feasible.
After a year of running with his friends, he joined the Madhya Pradesh State Athletics Academy and started training under chief coach Sanjay Garnaik and coach Anupama Srivastava. Since then, his performance has been going upward. He said, "Joining MP Academy changed my life. I've got the best coaches and facilities here."
