Tribune News Service
Vinayak Padmadeo
Gandhinagar, October 1
Amlan Borgohain talks with a distinct stutter. But unlike his talking, the sprinter is sharp and witty, much like his strides.
“My name is Amlan Borgohain,” said the Assam sprinter to the volunteers as he was being ushered for the medals ceremony on Saturday. This was a response to the announcer, who wanted to know if she was pronouncing his surname correctly.
Nobody can guess how much my brother has sacrificed to help my career. Anything I win, like today or in future, the credit goes to him. I wanted to make my mother proud. I practise far away from her, so she must be proud watching her son on national television, winning gold. It’s a special moment for everyone in the family Amlan Borgohain
Borgohain, who was in a happy space after winning the men’s 100 metres title on Saturday, then said, “It is the Borgohain like in Lovlina Borgohain. You know, she is my sister.”
Lovlina, a medallist at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, may be related to him, but he does not know how. “My mother keeps saying we are related but if you ask me how, I do not know,” Borgohain said, bursting into laughter.
In the final, Borgohain failed to better his own national record of 10:25 seconds, though he had come close to it when he clocked 10:28s in the semifinals before winning gold in 10:38s.
Tamil Nadu’s Elakiyadsasan VK won the silver in 10:45s while his teammate Siva Kumar B finished third in 10:48s.
In the women’s 100m final, Andhra Pradesh’s Jyothi Yarraji won gold in 11.51s while Tamil Nadu’s Archana Suseendran and Maharashtra’s Diandra Valladares finished second and third in 11.51s and 11.62s, respectively.
Proving coach wrong
Borgohain celebrated as if he had broken the national record, though he was celebrating in that manner as he had once again proven his coach, James Hillier, wrong.
Hillier is a hard taskmaster and the two have a running competition between them. Hillier has often challenged Borgohain to prove him wrong, feeling that the 24-year-old sprinter was taking things easy.
“Yes, I beat him!” Borgohain said minutes after the win, and then corrected himself: “No, I did not beat him. He had said something to the effect that ‘you prove me wrong’, and I did that. It is healthy competition.”
Then he added: “I stay clear of him. Who wants to hang out with the coach! I just hear the right things needed for me to improve and move on.”
Borgohain, who holds the 200m national record too, has a stammer due to which he was made fun of since his childhood. On Saturday, he was in the mood to take revenge on everyone who laughed at him.
“So, I stammer a lot. I have been like this since childhood. Then everyone would tell me ‘jaldi bol, jaldi bol’… Now I run very fast, so now I tell them ‘jaldi chal, jaldi chal’!” he said.
He is getting faster. On August 29, the National Sports Day, Borgohain set a new 100m record when he clocked 10.25s at the Inter-Railways Athletics Championships in Rae Bareli, bettering Amiya Kumar Mallick’s mark of 10.26s, set in 2016. Borgohain had set the 200m record of 20.52s in April at the Federation Cup.
Covid-19 hit home hard
During the media interaction, Borgohain thanked his elder brother, Pradyuman, for sacrificing his professional career for him, and to nurse their mother, Geetanjali. All this happened during the Covid pandemic.
With their mother bedridden and Borgohain active in sports, Pradyuman quit his corporate job to become a fulltime caregiver.
“Nobody can guess how much my brother has sacrificed to help my career. Anything I win, like today or in future, the credit goes to him,” the young sprinter said.
Despite living away from the family, Borgohain is never far from his mother – he has got ‘MAA’ tattooed on his left arm. “I wanted to make her proud. I practise far away from her, so she must be proud watching her son on national television, winning gold. It’s a special moment for everyone in the family,” he said.
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