From makeshift training tracks in Rohtak to Nairobi Podium, Amit Khatri has come a long way

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 21

Amit Khatri was eager to show his silver medal to Athletics Federation of India (AFI) officials who did not travel to Nairobi, Kenya, for the World Athletics U20 Championships.

The 18-year-old, who hails from Ismaila village from Haryana’s Rohtak was understandably delighted to show his medal as this was his first-ever international meet. Amit, who led the 10000 M race walk for a lengthy period, finished a little over six seconds behind Kenya’s Heristone Wanyonyi. Spain’s Paul McGrath bagged the bronze medal.

For as much as he was rued a lapse in judgement before the final lap to make a dash for a water bottle where he ended up ceding the lead to Wanyonyi, Amit knows the medal was realised on the back of two countrywide lockdowns which brought everything to a standstill.

The son of BSF havildar Suresh Kumar, Amit trained with his current coach Chandan Singh, a Naib Subedar in the Indian Army, in Nainital for over two months from October in 2020 for high altitude training.

Again in a makeshift 500M track on the Kharkhoda-Jhajjar Highway and finally in another makeshift track of 1 km near his family’s farm in Ismaila.

“I had to stop running on the highway after it opened to traffic so I had to make another part-time track near our farms,” Amit told The Tribune from Nairobi.

“Before that, I trained with Chandan sir in Nainital for over two months. I couldn’t train with him during the second lockdown so my training programme and other analysis were done over video calls,” Amit added.

The key was to continue training as per Chandan.

“We had to keep training as we knew any moment we would be asked to take part in a tournament. So we kept at it in whichever way we could to stay fit and ready,” said Chandan.

‘Silver is better than nothing’

Talking about his race, Amit said a combination of things put him off his target of winning a gold medal. Struggling to adapt to the high altitude in Nairobi, inexperience as this was his first major international meet, were some of the issues that kept him away from a memorable end to the 10000km race walk final.

“My strategy was simple. I wanted to stay near to the leading pack and then make my move,” Amit explained.

“It worked for the race except for the last 400 metre or so where I tried to take the water bottle. After conceding the lead I held back thinking I may get a warning card if I try hard to catch up. I wanted to win the gold medal but it is still a big medal for me,” he added.

Next, target 20 km

His coach has already earmarked the next target for Amit, who holds the National Junior Record in U-16,U-18, U-20 (40:40:97s), which he set recently during the Junior Federation Cup in Bhopal as well as in the road race. His next big target is to switch his attention to the 20KM race walk.

“We have already talked about this. We are talking about the 2024 Paris Olympics and he has all the attributes to make the cut for the 20KM walk. We will start training about this soon,” Singh said.