Eye on National Games, athletes’ strides get faster, longer

PANAJI: There was plenty of drama at the starting point of the 100m-race for senior men with a false start, disqualification and delayed restart, but Moses Mascarenhas kept his cool to finish with a personal best timing at the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim on Tuesday.
A student of Government College in Quepem, Moses has been one of the brighter prospects in Goa and he proved that in good measure at the just-concluded Manohar Parrikar State Athletics Championship.
“This is my personal best time and I am glad I could do it here,” Moses told TOI on Tuesday. “With the National Games fast approaching, we have to take rapid strides.”
Moses clocked 10.81 secs at the state championship to become Goa’s fastest, a welcome change from the Goa University gold he won last month at 11.05 secs. To get a measure of just how fast the sprinter is progressing, check his timing at the National Open Athletics Championships in Bengaluru in October last year: 11.25 secs.
“Since October last year, I have made progress which clearly suggests that I can do even better. Along with the coach, I am working towards it,” said Moses.
Goa will host the National Games in October-November later this year with athletes securing automatic qualification as hosts. Terry is certain to be among the athletes who will believe they have a chance to make history, but he won’t be alone.
Teddy Cardozo is another athlete who could break that barrier.
At the state championships, Teddy clocked 16:10 to win gold in 10,000m. It wasn’t his best timing, but having just recovered from a groin injury, the Curca-based athlete’s progress is noteworthy.
Derrick Barbosa, too, has been cruising steadily.
Trained by former state champion Patrick Dourado, he won gold in 800m, clocking 1:59, slightly slower than the Goa University record he set at 1:58, but still not close enough to the state record of 1:56 set by his coach “many years ago”.
“A knee injury had kept me out of training for almost a year but now with the National Games in sight, we are getting close to our best,” said the former footballer.
Sapna Patel won gold in the 1,500m and 5,000m without breaking into a sweat and is now confident she is peaking at the right time.
“Six months ago when we were competing in Gorakhpur, the timings were not so good. Now, it’s all clicking for us, just in time for the National Games,” said Sapna.