State athletics: Shetty takes blows in stride toward records

PANAJI: Neither a bloodied nose nor a strained groin could keep him down.
Meet Prajwal Shetty who set a 400m meet record at the State athletics championships at the GMC Athletic stadium at Bambolim on Friday.
The 22-year-old clocked 48.7 seconds to take ownership of the record and in the process adding to his 200m mark of 22.3 seconds at the Goa University championships last year.
Shetty, a natural sportsman, sustained an injury while playing football two months ago and shaking off its effect took the track on Friday to win his pet event in style.
If fate hadn’t intervened, he would be throwing punches in the boxing ring and not thudding the synthetic track.
“I suffered a broken nose in the National boxing championships in Bhuranpur, Madhya Pradesh, three years ago. It was a call by the referee that made me stop and lower my guard. My opponent took unfair advantage and delivered a punch to my nose,” Shetty, a commerce graduate from Shree Vidya Prabodhini, revealed.
“He should have been disqualified but that was not to be,” Shetty recalled. Suffering a profusely bleeding nose, Shetty lost the bout on a technicality in the next round and finished with a bronze medal.
“But more than the defeat, I lost time from the ring following doctor’s advice that I take a break from boxing for at least two years,” Shetty recollected.
It was during this enforced leave from his first love in sports that Shetty took to athletics.
Distraught, Shetty turned to jogging and running races at small events and was soon spotted by SAG coach Devi Gaonkar who sought a reference from his physical education teacher Vilas Palkar.
“I owe a lot to both,” Shetty, also a judo gold medallist at the Goa University championship and a handy cricketer who met the asking rate more often than not.
He began to grow from strength to strength under Gaonkar’s tutelage and impressed observers at a meet in Bengaluru recently where he picked up the 400x4 relay gold medal, a 200m silver and a 400m bronze, setting his personal best of 48.20seconds.
Shetty now works on his ambition of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics, even as he views the herculean challenge of clocking 46 seconds. It would call for, he admits, total focus and has even declined a job offer from the Railways in Karnataka to that end.
His passion for the track has transcended the handicap of funds even though his family is reasonably well off. “My father would not have me pursuing sports,” Shetty said. “He wants me to concentrate on studies.”
Some support came his way from his older brother Pradhan and he fondly recollects a surprise gift from his recreational club Tiger Boys of Betim who gifted him a pair of running shoes worth Rs 10,000 that helped him on his way to a record.