Mumbai: Bhawana Jat is pacing about restlessly. The country's newest race walker from Rajasthan had qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by setting a new benchmark in the 20km event at the 7th National Open Race-Walking Championships in Ranchi held in February, becoming only the second Indian to do so.
This youngster clocked in over a whole minute less than the Olympic qualification time of 1:31.00. This is her seventh National Pedestrian Championship title. But much to her dismay, the Olympics have been postponed.
Bhawana, who pulled off a shock win at the National Championships in February, feels athletes are staring at an uncertain future due to the pandemic, which has caused over 100,000 deaths globally. "I was disappointed at the Olympics being postponed because I was in a very good shape and was hoping to do well.
The Asian Championships (to be held in March in Japan) was an ideal platform to test myself at the international level. That also got postponed due to COVID-19," reports quoted her as saying. "I don't know what will happen next year.
I will have to start from scratch. I don't know whether the Olympics will even be held next year," she added. The 24-year-old is currently based at the Sports Authority of India Centre in Bengaluru where there is no outdoor training due to the lockdown. She is the only woman race walker at the centre, which also has eight other male athletes for the same event.
"Since the time I took up this sport, I have been dreaming of an Olympic medal. That is my ultimate aim. But as of now I am not thinking about Olympics, I am thinking about when this pandemic will end," she said. However, experts have not taken her reaction to the postponement of the Olympics in their stride. They feel she has been misguided by someone or there is some other reason for it.
“It is rubbish, I think, for anybody to say that having to wait for another year has hampered her chances of a medal. It is actually a blessing in disguise,” said an expert. “I think she needs counselling. She is a good athlete and an international medal-winning prospect,” said the expert.
“It is a general feeling, that instead of few months, you have been given a year more to get in good shape, and there is no reason for someone to say that it would go against their chances,” the expert told The Free Press Journal on Tuesday. Incidentally, Bhawana Jat is a self-made athlete, and not from any Sports Authority India’s cadre.
