Runaway success

Sprint is her specialization. Sixteen-year-old Sanaya Ichhaporia is one of the rare Parsi girls to have won eight medals in the 100 m and 200 m run, within a space of four consecutive years at the all India level. Of these, four have been gold, one silver and three bronze.

A medal to particularly cherish is the 100 m bronze she won at the National Games DSO (District Sports Office) at Rajnandgaon in Chha­tissgarh from April 18 to 20, 2011. Showing the spunk to participate in the meet despite being informed by the DSO just two days before the scheduled start of the Games, Sanaya travelled for an unbelievable 36 hours by bus, continuously from Bombay to Nagpur and thence to Rajnandgaon. Reaching there with her parents Hoshang and Daisy at one o’clock at night, the family had then to search for a place to stay! "We had no option but to travel by road. Even the Tatkal railway booking was full. They said the Volvo bus would be air-conditioned, but they switched it off. Food on the way was another difficulty,” narrates Hoshang, recalling the harrowing experience. "It was so cramped sitting for all those hours, our legs could hardly move.” Despite the discomfort and the fatigue factor kicking in, Sanaya ran the race as scheduled as this was her last opportunity to run in the Under-16 (U-16) category. "Next year she will be in the U-18 and that makes it all the more difficult. So we took the opportunity to participate, but I could see her struggling. It was also very hot in April which made it more difficult for her to perform. I’m sure if she had been well rested, she could have secured silver or gold,” says Hoshang.

In January this year, Sanaya clinched gold in 100 m and 200 m at the Maharashtra state meet — DSO at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Poona. She had also annexed the 100 m gold at the Eighth Open National Inter-District Games at Haridwar from October 27 to 30, 2010. "Sanaya’s best performance of the season was her 12.8 seconds (secs) in the 100 m at the Poona event and she was declared the fastest girl of the meet,” Hoshang informs us. The young athlete also holds three Maharashtra state records in the Girls U-12 category — 13.3 secs and 27.7 secs in 100 m and 200 m respectively set up in Bombay in December 2006 and 45.2 secs in the 300 m also established in the same city in the same month. In the Girls U-14, the runner created a new record with a timing of 7.96 secs in 60 m at Haridwar on October 24, 2008, as per her bio data. All the records still stand. The training, participation at competitions, travelling expenses are heavy and can strain a family’s resources considerably, adds the father.

Sanaya trains at the Priyadarshini Park in Bombay under coach Dinanath Maurya. "As Sanaya is now in Std XII at the H. R. College, we will have to see how much she will be able to participate in events this year. Academics are also important and she has been a very good student, securing 94 percent in the SSC (Secondary School Certificate) exam,” says Hoshang. Keen to take the training to a higher level, the collegian is however shocked at the doping scandal that has rocked India’s star runners in recent weeks. "Sports have to be enhanced in a fair manner at all levels, without taking any restricted substances. This kills the spirit of sportsmanship,” she asserts.