"I want the gold but if the people are saying, it puts pressure" - Amlan Borgohain feels fans' unrealistic expectations bog athletes down
Sprinter Amlan Borgohain wasn’t part of the initial 65-member list of the Indian athletics contingent prepared by the Sports Ministry of India for the ongoing 2023 Asian Games. The Assam-born athlete missed the qualification mark of 20.61 seconds in the 200m race even though he won the gold at the National Inter-State Championships with a timing of 20.71s in Bhubaneshwar in June.
Nevertheless, Amlan, who holds the national record for both 100m (10.25s) and 200m (20.52s), displayed his season-best performance of 25.55s to bag a bronze medal in men’s 200m at the World University Games in Chengdu, China, in August.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) put forward the 25-year-old’s name before the Ministry of Sports and Amlan was added to the revised Indian squad for the Asian Games that was announced on September 14.
Though Amlan Borgohain took his earlier omission in good spirits, the Indian athlete felt fortunate enough to make the cut for the continental showpiece event despite missing the qualification mark.
“The qualifying period was like 31st of July and I wasn’t qualified till then. It’s a fact that if you’re not qualified then your name is not on the list. Thereafter, I went to the World University games and I showed my potential there and won the bronze medal,” Amlan Borgohain told exclusively to Sportskeeda.
“Both the Athletics Federation of India and Athletics Federation of Assam pushed my name ahead. Actually, I am blessed that each and every person from the federation helped me a lot to put my name on the (second) list,” he added.
Amlan Borgohain, who trains at Odisha Reliance Athletics High-Performance Centre, mentioned the exposure he got from participating in more international events. He said that there are a limited number of competitions in India for athletics as compared to foreign countries.
“Sprinting is more about being explosive and all about how you execute your race and technique. All the track and field events are the same just because you have to gain more experience in them,” the 25-year-old said.
“If you continue to have a competition that makes sprinting better, but the thing is in India we don’t have much competition. Just like four or five in particular. When I went to other countries, I saw that the people are the same as us but in terms of the experience they run better than us just because they have more competitions,” he added.
India is the third most successful team when it comes to winning medals at the Asian Games with a total of 254 medals - 79 golds, 88 silvers, and 87 bronzes. Only China (462) and Japan (586) are ahead of India in the medal tally list in the Track and Field events at the Asiad.
Amlan Borgohain, who makes his debut at the quadrennial tournament, mentioned how the heavy expectations from the supporters for a medal put athletes under immense pressure.
“Athletics is not easy as sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t happen. I feel like you have to go there and win the medal. If someone tells me to go and get the gold medal, I know that I want the gold but if people are saying, it puts pressure. Rather than that, people should say you do your best, we are with you,” Amlan said on the heavy demand for a medal in major events.
"This experience will help me for the Asian Games" - Amlan Borgohain on Flanders Cup success
The qualification path for the Paris Olympics 2024 in men’s 200m is 20.16s for the standard entry. Amlan Borgohain clocked 20.52s at the National Federation Cup in Calicut last year to break the national record of Muhammed Anas for the fastest timing in the men’s 200m.
During the Flanders Cup 2023 athletics meet in Belgium in June, Amlan bagged gold medals in both 100m and 200m sprint events. He was just 0.45 seconds away from touching his own national record of 10.25s which he achieved at the Inter-Railway Athletics Championships 2022 held in Uttar Pradesh.
“0.45 seconds is huge where you can actually put 10-20 people in it,” Amlan said. “That European trip and the Flanders Cup helped me gain more and more experience. I was exploring the competitions and it’s hard to continuously race for each and every alternate day. This experience actually helped me for my World University Games and now it will help me for the Asian Games.”
Amlan will compete in the men’s 200m Round 1 at the Asian Games on October 1. He will feature in the final on October 2 if he qualifies for the event.