Tanya sets National Record: Breaks 68.35m mark; now eyes 70m at Asian Games

Tanya Chaudhary (TOI Photo)

NEW DELHI: It took a minute for Tanya Chaudhary to put her feelings into words. She had very good reason to be overawed by the occasion. With a throw of 68.35m, the 22-year-old had just broken the national record in hammer throw at the Indian Athletics Series Final.Uttar Pradesh's Chaudhary had multiple aspects to celebrate at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. She bettered Anushka Yadav's national record of 67.02m set in June. She had edged Anushka (66.34m) in the competition. The record comes within days of her flight to Japan for the Asian Games, which begin on August 19. Lastly, she had just put Baghpat back on the hammer throw map - something Rakesh Yadav had done with a 70.13m throw back in 2003.

The 68.35m throw of the chain and iron was a big improvement on her personal best of 63.91m from last year.

It was even higher than the 65.60m she had managed at the Inter-University Athletics Championships in January.Coached by Sachin Yadav, her foundations were set at the Shri Krishna Inter College in Baleni, Baghpat. And here, almost 70kms away, her goal of the past three years had been realised.

"I had been chasing this goal for the past three years. Earlier I had recorded 65m and I had registered it unofficially twice or thrice.

But now that I've finally achieved that, and more, I am very pleased," she said with a smile.Her path to the Asian Games was not straightforward.Since January, she has struggled with injuries: a knee issue, a stress injury on the femur bone and an ACL. Then in June, under Bhubaneshwar's floodlights at the Inter-State Championships, she missed the qualification mark by mere two centimetres. Anushka, her UP compatriot, had topped the standings then while also registering the national record."I missed the national record the last time but it's a good thing that we (she and Anushka) come from the same training facility. So, it is a good thing for us to learn and compete with each," she told reporters after pocketing Rs 1 lakh as the winner of the event.

"That second place finish actually gave me a target, that it has even gotten bigger. That I need to put more effort, work on my shortcomings even more. It's a good thing that we have each other to compete with and improve upon," she continued.Despite the disappointment of missing the qualification mark straightaway, she still found her way into the 503-member Indian contingent for Aichi-Nagoya. The challenge there would be spearheaded by China's Jiale Zhang, who had set the continental record of 78.64m at the Chinese Championships."The target is to obviously do better. Now that I've improved on my personal best, the bare minimum would be to match it. The 70m goal is not far away now. It is now almost 1.5m away."My target this year was to achieve 70m but with injuries I was hampered and affected. But now that I've gained momentum, I am hopeful that I will be able to reach 70m also," she finished.