On slippery track, Anas runs race of his life

Rohit Mahajan

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Tribune news service

Gold Coast, April 10

Fifteen minutes after running the race of his life, finishing fourth in the 400m final, Muhammed Anas Yahiya was still gasping for breath. The quickest 400m race of his life — and of India’s athletics history, too — had knocked the wind out of him. As he spoke, his sentences were split by his body’s urgent need of oxygen, and he spoke at the rate of one word every five seconds. This is what world-class athletics looks and feels like.

He’s the best in India over 400m, ever, having recorded 45.31 seconds in the final tonight. The next time someone (say, Shobha De, Shobhaa Dey or whatever, mocker-in-chief of India’s athletes for 2016 Rio Olympics) is inclined to ridicule him or any other top Indian athlete, pause and think: They are the pride of our country, the folks who carry India’s flag to the toughest contests in the world.

He’s a quiet and gentle man, modest to a fault. We tried three languages at him, and he turned out to be equally modest in them. But he did know very well the importance of what he’d achieved today. Personal Best and National Record are no small matters for athletes who’ve been running for years and decades. “I am proud of myself because I managed to get fourth,” he said soon after the final. “That will be good for me in the future. I had to put in a lot more effort today because the track was very slippery and I was cramping up.”

PB (Personal Best) and NR (National Record) are not jokes. Anas is already a semi-legend — best among 1.3 billion people! He deserves respect and honour.