BANGKOK: The tag of India's premier athletics family now has a permanent address at a village in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi. The latest to bring an international medal to the family is Abhishek Pal, India's star at the Asian Athletics Championships here on Wednesday.
The eldest in the family is Rahul Pal who won the Asian U-20 gold and has a top-eight finish in the Asian Games.
Phoolan Pal is next and has two top-5 finishes in the Federation Cup and InterState athletics meet. Abhishek is followed by Upendra, Antima, Sachin and Vipin Pal. Antima, 19, won the Asian U-20 bronze in Yecheon, Korea last month. According to a top coach, the other three too are potential champions.
"All of us are into sports in my family. My elder brother and sister are well known athletes. The biggest influence for all of us is our chacha who introduced us to sports. He would be very happy to see my performance today as he was upset after the Inter-state meet, where I couldn't do well," the 25-year-old Railways employee told TOI.
"Chacha (Kamlesh Kumar Pal) trained us during our childhood. People call him Gandhi saab in our village as he does Gandhiji's work, specially in sports. He trains a lot of kids in the village and goes around looking for fresh talent. He wants youngsters to do something good for the country and win medals," said Abhishek, who is trained by Scott Simmons and Surendra Singh. "As a junior too I had won the Asian bronze and today I took the Asian bronze in seniors," said the beaming medallist who will celebrate his birthday on July 15. Next up for Abhishek is the 5,000m on July 16.
(THE WRITER IS IN BANGKOK AT THE INVITATION OF AAA)
