She is dressed rather simply in a jeans and a sleeveless top and sports no make-up, but you could still understand why Ashwini Nachappa is called the glamour girl of Indian athletics.
“I am glad to be back at Mangaluru, as an administrator, for the National Senior Athletics Championship,” she said, looking at the hectic activity at the Mangala Stadium on a hot afternoon.
“It was here that I won my first gold medal in 100m at the senior national level. I had also won the silver in 200m in that event, the National Open Championship in 1987. It is also memorable because Karnataka had scored a sprint double, as Anand Shetty, who sadly is no more, had won the men’s 100m,” she recalls.
On track
There was no synthetic track back then, of course. “It is nice to see such a good track at Mangaluru, which has a strong tradition in athletics,” says the former sprint queen, who is now the vice-president of the Karnataka Athletics Association.
“Our State is producing good athletes, no doubt, but we should do more to promote the sport, like our neighbouring Kerala does,” she says.
Famous rival
Kerala’s living legend P.T. Usha was her most famous rival on the track. “Our rivalry was limited only to the track,” she says, smiling.
“It is good to see that Usha is giving something back to the sport, as a coach. Tintu Luka is ample proof that she is doing an excellent job as a trainer.”
