Yesu Raj to run faster
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After being labelled as the fastest man in the State Senior Athletic meet in Kochi, 21-year-old Yesu Raj, from Punjab, is confident of making a mark in the Inter-service Athletic meet that will be held in Hyderabad later in August this year.
“This was the first senior championship I participated after joining Indian Navy. I was able to grab the gold in it and this may be a good start for my season,” says the sprinter.
Yesu Raj, hailing from Chandigarh and currently working as a sailor in Kochi Naval Base, had everything going right for him when he clocked 10.87 seconds and grabbed a nerve-wracking win from Sujith Kuttan by one hundredth of a second. He was representing Wayanad in the State meet.
“I have been training in Indian Navy in the sailor post for last two years and was not able to participate in any major athletic meet.
Before joining Navy, I have won several gold medals in the athletic meets in sprint events in Punjab. I have also won the gold medals in the under-19 category in 100 m, 200 m and 4X100 m relay in the National School Meet held in Amritsar in 2009,” he said.
His best timing so far is 10.65 seconds in the Punjab Gold Cup held in 2009. “My target at the senior meet here was to clock at least 10.80 seconds. But unfortunately I was not able to achieve it. However, I am confident that I will improve,” he says.
The athlete will be attending a month-long camp at Pune in June for the Inter-service athletic meet. “I would like to set my target for the meet as 10.50 seconds there. If everything goes right, I will be able to chase it down,” he says.
His coach B. Vijayan says, “Yesu Raj has good potential. After his training at Navy, he is only 80 per cent fit.
The camp at Pune will help him to regain full fitness and by August, I am positive that he will be the fastest athlete in the Inter-service meet.”
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