When Preeja Sreedaran and Kavita Raut completed a grand 1-2 in the 10000 metres race at Guangzhou late last evening, the entire Asian media stood up and saluted the Indian girls for their phenomenal race.
Although the duo won the famous battle on the race track, they have overcome many big battles in the race of life to be at the summit in Guangzhou.
Suddenly in the course of a single evening, the Chinese were intrigued by the long-winding Indian Railways, and it wasn't some bullet-train technology that had them enchanted. Two gold medals for Indians on the track on Sunday at the Asian Games had the local media scrambling for details about the "Indian rail-women", asking wondrously how they drove a train and still managed to finish on top of the podium in such arduous events.
Not as exotic as that, but in scooping two gold medals with their gritty lapping of the Aoti Main Stadium, 10,000 m runner Preeja Sreedharan and steeplechaser Sudha Singh had captured Chinese hearts at the stadium.
India took off sensationally on the opening day of athletics at Guangzhou, ensuring the athletics medal-loot at the Commonwealth Games was no fluke, and promising a rich haul ahead.
Track's long-distance disciplines -- hitherto holding potential but never exploited till coach Nikolai Snesarev arrived -- threw up unlikely heroes on the day.
Preeja Sreedharan ran the race of her life, breaking from the back pack only in the last two laps to burst through the last straight and win India's first medal here with a personal and gold-clinching best of 31:50.47. She led a commanding India 1-2 to the finish, with CWG's bronze-medal winner Kavita Raut coming in second.
It was Preeja's unflinching momentum in the last lap that stood out. A 28-year-old from an impoverished home in Mullakkanam village of Kerala, Preeja lost her father very early in life.
"This medal is for my mother and brother, who've worked hard to get me till here," she said.
"I'd done well to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. But this win is bigger and very unexpected," the woman with the winsome smile said, even as silver-medallist Kavita stayed content to let her senior -- whom she'd trumped at the CWG -- enjoy her big day. "She deserved it more than anyone else," Kavita said.
Sudha Singh was always expecting a medal in the 3,000 m steeplechase, and improved upon her career-best timings to take the gold, in 9 min 55.67 seconds, staving off a Chinese athlete in a photo-finish.
The 24-year-old from Rae Bareli completed India's outstanding day in the long-distance events, pushing herself the hardest in the last 3 seconds -- fisting her hands that revealed mehendi and wearing a mangalsutra around her neck.
"I'm very happy. My husband is a 400 m hurdler, and he's been a big support. If I go home late, he'll even cook for me," she told the gaping Chinese media.
Source: Indian Express
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