Teenager Neeru Pathak hopes to continue good form leading to World U20 Championships

CHENNAI: Neeru Pathak of Delhi had a memorable outing at the recently concluded National Youth Athletics Championships. The 17-year-old Neeru breached the qualification marks in two events (200m and 400m) for the World U20 Athletics Championships. She broke the national record (in the U-18 category) in the women’s 400m event by clocking 52.85 seconds and then broke the meet record in 200m with a timing of 23.94s.

“I did not expect that I would run below 52 seconds in 400m before the start of the tournament.I wanted to attain the qualification mark and run a good race (acchi race lagani hai). My aim next will be to win a medal at the World U20 Championships,” Neeru told TOI.

Before the Youth Nationals, Neeru had a good outing at the junior nationals competition. In the Delhi State meet, the youngster clocked 53.9s to finish on the top of the podium.

Neeru trains under the tutelage of coach Vishal Saxena who helped shape the career of quarter-miler Rupal Chaudhary. Rupal was part of the 4x400m women’s relay squad that qualified for the Paris Olympics in the Bahamas.

“I practise in Meerut on muddy tracks under coach Vishal Saxena, and we travel to Delhi thrice a week to train on synthetic track. I saw Vishal sir training several athletes in Delhi and I approached sir to train under him. It has been close to three years since I joined him. He has developed me into a better athlete,” Neeru added.

“My father is a farmer, and my mother is a housewife. I used to give lunch to my father at his farmland by running 3km to 4km daily from my house on the roads. I used to run pretty quickly, which made me think that I could take up athletics. While many were not happy with my decision, my father stood up for me and supported me a lot. In my first state meet in Delhi, I did not finish well and I was disappointed. My father told me not to lose hope and motivated me to train hard.”