Ironing it out

Hurling the iron ball to a distance of 10.05 m, 14-year-old Kainaz Mistry (see "Putting a long shot,” Sports, Parsiana, May 2000) created a new record for junior girls at the ICSE national (school) games held in Secunderabad in October 2002. Coached by Samad Pawaskar, the Bombay Queen Mary schoolgirl was the lone record breaker in the girls category, states a press release.

"The coach and Kainaz had worked very hard and that really paid off,” says Kainaz’s mother Beroze adding that stiff competition can lift an athlete’s performance several notches higher. At the larger arena of the national (all schools) athletics held in Bangalore in February ’03, Kainaz missed out on podium position, placing fourth in the under-16 group.

Kainaz Mistry with her reward at Patiala

Kainaz’s fine showing at the 5th Ryan Maharashtra state level athletic meet in December 2002 with a throw of 8.99 m in the under-16 won her the gold in a competition which witnessed, according to The Indian Express of December 11, 2002, a huge participation of around 9,500 athletes. School and junior college students from institutions in Bombay, its distant suburbs and even places like Raigad, Panvel and Dahanu travelled to the University Sports Pavilion in South Bombay to showcase their skills. Reporting on the event, the Mumbai Newsline of December 13 states that 13-year-old Meherzan Mazda of Dahanu representing the town’s Yazd Sports Club created two meet records on both the days he participated — hurling the shot-put 12.44 m in the boys under-14 and the discus 35.14 m in the same category to eclipse a record set by Sheriar Irani in 1999. The paper adds that the boy had to leave his home at around 4.30 a.m. to reach the venue on time and could return home only around 9.30-10 at night. "There were so many competitors, the meet resembled a mela,” laughs Kainaz.

Celebrating Christmas 2000 in Houston, USA with a silver in shot-put and a bronze in discus in the women’s category at the World Zarathushti Games during the Seventh World Zoroastrian Congress, Kainaz was acutely disappointed, says Beroze, at not being allowed to participate in the track events in the younger age group due to a mix up in the entry form. Kainaz’s successful outings throughout 2001 led to a gold at the prestigious National School Games at Patiala in early 2002. An enthusiastic participant in the triathlon (100 m, long jump and shot-put), a troublesome ankle sometimes restricts the range of events, though she continues to train for the sprint under Homiyar and Rachita Mistry at the Univers­ity Sports ground at Marine Lines. Set to step into the final year of schooling shortly, Kainaz says she will keep up the training through standard 10 as well, though on a reduced scale.