Indian Grand Prix-5: Priti good: Steeplechaser qualifies for Asiad

Tribune News Service

Indervir Grewal

Chandigarh, September 11

As Priti Lamba stepped up to the starting line, she knew it was now or never. The Indian Grand Prix-5 was her last chance to qualify for the upcoming Asian Games in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event.

Priti had come agonisingly close to breaching the qualifying mark of 9 minutes, 47 seconds in May with her personal best of 9:47.78 in a gold-winning effort at the Federation Cup. But the Haryana athlete could not match her pace in the next three races as she finished fourth at the Asian Championships with her second-best time of 9:48.50.

In the Grand Prix today, Priti, running the two-woman race alone almost the whole time, was fighting more of a mental battle with herself.

It was a strange race. I felt like I was not able to push myself, yet I was making quick time. This was my last chance and I am so happy to qualify. Now I can relax a little and then start preparing for the Asian Games. —Priti Lamba

Six years back, at her “peak”, Priti had suffered a heartbreak when a serious ankle injury put paid to her dreams of participating at the 2018 Asian Games. Knowing that this could be her last chance of competing in the Asian Games, failure was not an option for the 27-year-old.

“It was a strange race. I felt like I was not able to push myself, yet I was making quick time,” Priti said after clocking her personal best of 9:45.13. “I guess the new track being so bouncy helped me,” she added.

“This was my last chance and I am so happy to qualify. Now I can relax a little and then start preparing for the Asian Games,” she added.

Fractured dream

Beaming with joy, Priti could not help but acknowledge her supporters. “There was not much sports in our village; we had one physical education teacher, who encouraged me to take up sports,” said Priti, who hails from Jawan village in Faridabad district. “He still calls me to know about my progress,” she added.

Priti’s biggest motivators, though, are her father Jagbir and husband Vicky Tomar, who also coaches her. Jagbir, who works at a petrol station, never failed to take her to training during her early years. “My father’s biggest desire is to see me win an Asian Games medal,” said Priti, who works in the South Central Railways.

In 2017, though, the Asian Games seemed a distant dream. “I fractured my right ankle at two places while going over a water jump at the national camp, and had to undergo surgery. I was at my peak but lost a whole year,” Priti said. “I started training in 2019. At that time, it was Vicky who kept me motivated, otherwise I was ready to quit,” added Priti, who runs with a metal plate in her ankle.

Priti, who has shed almost 30 seconds from her time since 2019, said she would improve on her personal best in China.

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