Gowda aims for good show in CWG, Asian Games

A silver medal in the prestigious Diamond League Meet to boast of, discus thrower Vikas Gowda said that he's in good shape to bring laurels for the country in the upcoming Commonwealth and Asian Games later this year.

Gowda won a silver in the first leg of Diamond League Meetings in Doha on May 10 with a throw of 63.23m and the rare achievement by an Indian has boosted his confidence with around two months left in the Glasgow CWG. Gowda holds the national record of 66.28m.

"My main targets are Commonwealth and Asian Games. The Diamond League meets are very competitive and standards very high. It's the same people you will see in Olympics and World Championships final. It (silver medal) definitely gives me a lot of confidence going forward. My performance could have been a little better, but it's a good indicator for the early part of season," said Gowda, who was born in Mysore but grew up in United States.

Asked about his training method, Gowda, who trains under legendary Olympic champion John Godina in the United States, said, "When I train I try to train with very high intensity. The same intensity and pressure you feel during a competition. Thus, when I get to a competition it is a familiar feeling."

He said that Indian athletics needs to improve faster in order to catch up with the world's best.

"Indian athletics has definitely got better over the last few years, but obviously it needs to be much better to win more medals," he said.

"The most important thing that needs to be done is to create more basic infrastructure. People need easy access to a track. They don't need a huge stadium. When I was growing up, my community had six or seven tracks within a 10-minute drive. After that is done, a high-performance centre also needs to be built," he said in an Athletics Federation of India release.

"The most important thing that helped me was the access to facilities. When I was young I had easy access to three or four different track in my area. And coaching is also very important. I did not start competing at the world-class level until I started training with John Godina."

Gowda won a silver in 2010 Commonwealth Games, bronze in the 2010 Asian Games, gold in the 2013 Asian Championships and finished eighth in 2012 Olympics.