Vishal shows mental strength en route mixed relay gold in Asian Athletics

CHENNAI: India’s T K Vishal suffered a heartbreak after he fell agonisingly short (0.02 seconds) of winning bronze in the men’s 400m individual event at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi.

He did not have much time to think about the race as he had to prepare himself for the mixed 400m relay, which was scheduled two hours later.The 21-year-old Tamil Nadu boy quickly recovered from the disappointment, getting back on the track and running the third leg to give a sizeable lead to Subha Venkatesan, who anchored the team to gold. What makes Vishal’s performance impressive is that he shifted to 400m just a year ago from sprint.

It was Vishal’s former coach, Seenivasan Ramaiah, who urged him to make the switch – and the results are starting to show.After the 400m individual race, Vishal hugged Seenivasan in disbelief. He had recorded a personal-best time of 45.57 seconds, but it was not enough to win a medal. Prior to the Asian Championships, Vishal had a PB of 46.12s and he trimmed 0.55s to set the new mark.“I had identified him before the Covid-19 pandemic but only started training him last year.

He comes from a humble background, and his family was in a dilemma whether to send him to work or support him to become a professional athlete. His parents placed their trust in me, which gave me confidence. I told Vishal that he would not be able to perform well in 100m and 200m, and I advised him to shift to 400m,” Seenivasan, who is a high performance coach for sprinters in NCOE Trivandrum, told TOI from South Korea.“He struggled for a month and told me not to force as he could not adapt quickly.

But I was confident and knew that somehow I will be able to shape him into a good quarter-miler. I knew it will be tough physically and mentally, but we had to be patient with the process.”At the TN State Championships in June last year, the coach was confident that his student will win gold, but Vishal was not sure. The result shocked many as Vishal, within a month of shifting to 400m, went on to bag the top spot. He later clinched several medals and joined the national camp under Jamaican coach Jason Dawson in December.Vishal will next take part in the men’s 400m relay on Thursday, and he will once again be an important cog in the team.