E-Paper
Athletics championship: Steeples off track keeps chase on it real for this winner
The Manmad-born athlete, Khurasne has seen every struggle in 25 years – from no strong financial background to not having a proper ground to train on for his event, the steeple chase.
Winning medals at the Inter-Railway Athletics Championship is not a new thing for Nagraj Khurasne, but winning a medal at the senior open National Championship is something he desires firmly.
The Manmad-born athlete, Khurasne has seen every struggle in 25 years – from no strong financial background to not having a proper ground to train on for his event, the steeple chase.
On Thursday, at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Khurasne, in the final lap, moved swiftly ahead to clinch the gold medal with a timing of 9.22.89.
It was his fifth steeple chase medal and second gold at the Railways meet where he is participating since he joined the Central Railway, Nagpur, in 2015.
“I used to run 400m and 600m in school and from there, started middle-distance running. It was my school PT teacher who told me to focus on athletics,” says Khurasne, who earned a flurry of medals in his under-14 days.
“At the taluka and state I have gold medals in 600m and 400m,” says Khurasne, who has done his schooling in Sangli Krida Prabodhini and further studies in Nagpur Kridaprabodhini.
“Lack of knowledge, no good coaches and non-availability of grounds to practice on always kept me behind of other athletes. I kept on participating in the nationals, but finished in sixth place on numerous occasions. A few years back Nagpur has got an athletics ground and now I am getting proper training,” says Khurasne.
Khurasne Central Railway team also sported Asian Gold medallist 33-year old Sudha Singh, who easily clinched gold here in the women’s category.
