Hari Krishna, a seventh standard student of AP Sports School (Hakimpet) near here, had the rare privilege of a one-week training stint under the famed Aussie coach Sharon Hannan, who it may be recalled here was the former coach of 2012 London Olympics gold medallist and hurdler Sally Pearson.
The young talented athlete from the city got the opportunity by virtue of being winner in the boys under-12 category in the grand finale of the Kooh Sports Speedstar Season -2 fastest sprinters competition in Mumbai. Hari was one of the five selected from India for the training programme in Australia’s Gold Coast City Athletics Track where the 2018 Commonwealth Games will be held.
“It was a rare honour and a great experience. For the seven-day training programme including morning session with coach Sharon who worked with each individual on strength, agility and proper use of starter blocks and also tweaked their warm-up regimes,” Hari said.
“It was essentially focussed on long-term athlete development. Our sessions also included competition with Australian athletes at Griffith University and we were given feedback on how to keep improving every aspect,” Hari explained.
Son of a farmer, Paidam Naidu in Ramayogi Agraharam Village in Kothapadu mandal (Visakapatnam), Hari reveals with a sense of pride that he is now targeting to be an international athlete and bring laurels to the country.
It maybe recalled here that Hari was one of those shortlisted from the Kooh Sports talent scouting programme at Gachibowli held under the aegis of Athletics Federation of India under the supervision of the great P. T. Usha a few weeks ago.
