New Delhi: Brimming with confidence after winning a silver at the Asian Games, India’s 400m hurdler Dharun Ayyasamy has set his eyes on winning a medal at the Asian Championships (AC) next year.
“My next immediate target is to win a medal at Asian championship. I don’t know what medal it would be but I’m confident of returning with a medal. Also there is World Championship (also in Qatar) and I want to do well in that also,” said Dharun who had clocked 48.96 seconds in Jakarta.
“I am targeting 48.50 next year. If I can do that and keep improving and produce 48.2 or 48.1 in 2020 Olympics, it will be good enough to get into the final. In track and field, getting into the final is a big achievement. So that is the target now,” said the 21-year-old, who hails from a village called Ravuthampalayam in Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu.
Dharun lost his father to tuberculosis when he was eight years old. He was in class IV then. It was his mother, a school teacher, who supported him and his sister, once a budding volleyball player, with a meagre salary of Rs 14,000.
“I don’t know where I would have been if it was not for my mother. She always gave me the freedom to follow my dreams. I am trying for a job. Now I have a few offers from Army, Navy and Railways but nothing is confirmed yet,” said Dharun, a TY human resources student at Alva’s College of Arts at Moodabidri in Karnataka.
After Asiad qualification round I felt confident. Before the final, I was targeting the bronze. But during the race I had a lot of energy and I managed to get silver
Dharun Ayyasamy