With his father Chithravel and uncle good at kabaddi, it did not take long for little C. Praveen to get hooked to that sport. Chithravel also used to take Praveen frequently to Thanjavur district athletics meets where the youngster did well in the long jump.
Praveen attended the SDAT Sports Hostel trials one day and found himself in Chennai where he began specialising in the long and triple jumps under coach Indira Suresh.
On Saturday, the 17-year-old produced an impressive 16.22m triple jump as he won the Tamil Nadu State senior championship gold in Tirunelveli.
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That made Praveen the world’s seventh best jumper in the under-18 category.
“Everything went perfectly on my final jump,” Praveen, who has now moved to Nagercoil after his SDAT coach Indira was transferred there, told The Hindu on Monday.
He bettered his personal best, the 15.66m at the recent junior Federation Cup in Coimbatore that helped him qualify for next month’s under-20 Worlds in Finland, with his third jump (15.67) and also had a 15.99 before the big one.
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That saw him getting a call to join the National camp in Thiruvananthapuram and is expected on Tuesday.
“He has good speed, good legs and is very aggressive in his jumps. I know what he is capable of,” said Romanian Bedros Bedrosian, the long and triple jumps National coach.
Indira and Praveen travel to Tirunelveli’s Anna Stadium, a two-hour bus ride away, thrice a week as there is a synthetic track there.
Praveen is also preparing for the Youth Olympics’ Asia qualification meet which begins in Bangkok on July 4.
“My goal is to do 16.50m this year,” he said. That really sounds good!