Finally, Railways’ Pinki is back on track

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 28

Setting the track ablaze was not on Pinki Pramanik’s mind when she turned up at the JLN stadium to compete in the Federation Cup here today.

Pinki wanted to erase the bad memories that have haunted her for the last eight years. So she ran to regain the respect of the athletics fraternity; the respect that she had lost because of a botched gender identity test. 

Despite finishing a lowly seventh in the 100 metres final on a warm Thursday evening, Pinki was far from dejected. She got respect and acceptance.

Pinki’s career was cut short by a road accident in 2008. She was subjected to a hyperandrogenism test that was followed by accusations of rape, assault and impersonation. She was suspended by the Railways. Later, Calcutta High Court dropped all the charges against her. “I had no money to support my needs. It was a horrible period,” Pinki said.

She was reinstated by the Railways and has been working as a TTE at the Sealdah station. 

It has helped in her recovery. But a three-month long training stint is too short to make a mark again. “I am now hopeful that I should be able to get paid leave from the Railways to concentrate on my training,” she said.

Pinki, 30, needs some good performances to earn paid leave from the Railways. “That’s the norm for every athlete. That’s why I took leave without pay for three months to train,” she said.

She is confident that her inclusion in the ongoing national camp could expedite her comeback. “I am going to request the AFI to include me  in the national camp. Training with more athletes will improve my confidence,” said Pinki, who won gold and silver in the 4x400m relay in the Asian and Commonwealth Games, respectively,  in 2006.

The 100m race is just the beginning for Pinki, whose pet events are 400m and 800m. “I should do much better in 400m and 800m,” she said.

Dutee sets national record

Odisha’s Dutee clocked 11.33s in the women's 100m dash to win the gold and erase Rachita Mistry's 16-year-old national record of 11.38s.

Malik clocks 10.26s in 100m

Amiya Kumar Mallick broke the national record in the men's 100m sprint by clocking 10.26s in the semifinals, thereby bettering the national mark of 10:30s set by Abdul Najeeb Qureshi in 2010. Jyotisankar Debnath of Bihar took the gold in 10.41s while Krishnakumar Rane (10.44s) and Mohd Abdul Qureshi (10.50s) were second and third respectively. Mallick finished fourth (10.51s). 

Inderjeet finishes second

In the men's shot put, Inderjeet Singh (19.17s) was pushed to the second spot in an upset by Tajinderpal Singh Toor of ONGC who won the gold with a throw of 19.93m.

Prajusha on top

In the women's long jump event, MA Prajusha (6.30m) grabbed the top spot. V Neena of Kerala finsihed second (6.24m) and Shradha Ghule of Maharashtra (6.21m) finished third.