JOIN USAbhishek Shetty scripts his way to decathlon gold at Fed Cup
Abhishek Shetty (22), who won gold in decathlon in the 35th National Games held in Thiruvananthapuram in February 2015 (with 6805 points), was in third position at the end of 8 events (out of 10 events in decathlon) at noon on Saturday.
With just two events pending (Javelin and 1500 m run) and an injury (he suffered during international meet in Mauritius 20 days ago), perhaps he was eyeing bronze in the event at Federation Cup being held at Mangala Stadium.
However, Shetty tried his best in Javelin (54.65) and 1500 m run (4:56:77), to pocket gold after securing 6,630 points.
Raneesh V V from Kerala bagged silver with 6391 points while Suren R from Indian Bank took bronze with 6,264 points.
Raneesh had won silver in 35th National Games too (6803 points).
The National Record is held by Bharatinder Singh with 7,658 points (2011) while Meet Record is in the name of Jora Singh with 7,502 points (March 3, 2015).
Volleyball to decathlon
A former student of Alva’s college (BCom), Shetty was a volleyball player till 2012. However, his uncle Prmodh Shetty’s (a weight lifting coach) suggestion that “unless all six players play well in a volleyball team, it is difficult to shine in the game” — made him think and Shetty decided to try his luck in decathlon as he was good in long jump, high jump as well as running race.
Much to his disbelief, he scripted national record (6352 points) in his very first attempt in the Under 20 national champitonship held on September 24, 2012. From there, there was no looking back.
He bagged gold in the inter-university atheletics meet held in Kolkata in January 2013 and managed to get a job in the Western Railway in Mumbai in 2014.
When he received a call from Athletics Federation of India on March 1, 2015, to take part in World Combined Event Athletics Championship to be held in Mauritius between April 8 to 12, he was on cloud 9. But his hopes almost dashed when he failed to get passport for almost a month despite running from pillar to post in Mangaluru as well as Bengaluru.
“It took me 12 days to get NOC from office. Later, when the officials at passport office asked me to get another letter stating that I am a resident of Karnataka, I thought I missed a chance,” he said and added that he was lucky to get a passport in Mumbai in just three days.
But, he had to face another problem as the airport officials refused to take his pole (pole vault) in the flight stating that the airport authorities should be informed one day in advance. Hence, he had to leave the pole in the airport itself and proceed without the same.
Though he was given a pole in Mauritius, it was not suitable for his body weight and he suffered an injury after he fell from 12 to 15 feet during practice just a day before the event. Hence, he could take part only in 9 events in decathlon except pole vault.
“Even without taking part in pole vault, I managed to get 6th place. If I had not suffered injury, I would have got a medal,” he said. “Though doctors have advised me take complete rest, I decided to take part in Federation Cup as it is being held in my hometown,” Shetty said and added that he will not take part in the upcoming inter-state athletic meet, so that he can concentrate on open national championship to be held in Kolkata.
He also said that it is very difficult to take part in decathlon as it requires lot of money just to buy spikes and pole. While each event requires different spikes (five) which cost around Rs 15,000 each, the pole costs more than Rs 75,000.
Son of Jagannath Shetty and Tulasi Shetty, a farmer couple, his sister Harshitha Shetty is
physical director in Alva’s PU College, Moodbidri.
Scores in decathlon
100 m dash - 11.8 sec (691 points); Long jump - 6.66 (734 points); Shot put - 12.19 (618 points); High jump - 1.85 (670 points); 400 m dash - 52.44 (706 points); 110 m hurdles - 15.77 (759 points); Discus throw - 36.75 (599 points); Pole vault - 4.00 (617 points); Javelin throw - 54.65 (658 points); and 1500 m run - 4:56:77 (578 points).