Mehta's merit

Conquering hurdles in smooth style is 46-year-old Rohinton Mehta’s forte. At the Bombay City District Annual Athletic meet in February 2007, running against competitors several years younger, Mehta won the gold in the men’s (open) category in the 400 m hurdles. "This makes me at 46 years and five months perhaps the oldest winner in a track event in the history of this championship,” says the athlete who has a PhD in law, several publications on legal subjects to his credit and who has been working with one of India’s leading corporates ITC Limited since 1994, and is currently associate general counsel.

Mehta recently added a new feather to his legal and sporting cap. "It is my pleasure to inform you that the International Council of Arbitration for Sport has appointed you as arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) during its last meeting of May 25, 2007… the CAS counts 234 members who may be called upon to serve on arbitral panels,” wrote secretary general Matthieu Reeb in his letter dated June 11 from Switzerland to Mehta. "The CAS provides international sport with an organization capable of settling legal disputes (both commercial and disciplinary) relating to sport,” Mehta explains. "India has only two such arbitrators — Sangeeta Mandal of the law firm Fox and Mandal and Justice Mukul Mudgal of the Delhi High Court. I managed to land this rather prestigious appointment on the twin strengths of my academic/professional qualifications and my sporting achievements especially at the international level.”

Rohinton Mehta: success in sport and law

In November 2006, Mehta had struck silver in the 400 m hurdles at the 14th Asia Masters Athletic Championships in Bangalore in the 45+ age group. "It was a very close race. I came in second by 0.3 of a second. An error on my part on the 8th hurdle cost me the race,” he narrates. Lily Khan of West Bengal stood second in the 60+ age group in the 5 km walk and Soli Karanjia took fifth place in the 5km walk in the 45+ bracket, Mehta informs Parsiana. Among the competitors was Prochy Mehta of Calcutta. "Incidentally, my timing of 1:04.7 is faster than the All-Parsi record in the 400 m hurdles held by Rayomand Irani (1.05.4). In the nationals in 2004 also I had run faster than the All-Parsi record,” Mehta says.

His silver medal at the Asia Masters made Mehta eligible to represent India at the 17th World Masters Track and Field Championships in Italy in September ’07 and the World Masters Games in Sydney, Australia in January 2009. In January 2006, Mehta had been the sole representative from India among 424 athletes from 10 countries at the 13th Oceania Masters Athletic Championships at Christchurch, New Zealand, where he won the gold in the 45+ bracket in the 110 m hurdles and the 400 m hurdles.

A versatile and still keen sportsman, Mehta has, as per his bio data, 80 certificates/medals in athletics, 14 in karate and a bronze in cycling! He has climbed over 200 hills in the Sahyadri range, trekked to Kala Patthar (18,450 ft) in 1986 and footed it in 1993 from Mettu­pallyam to the hill station of Ooty in the Nilgiris!