Narain recovers, ready for Mexico

MUMBAI, March 6: Even as our Men in Blue were slugging it out in Australia two weeks ago, there was another sportsman, also in Blue, who was putting his life on the line for India.The fastest Indian in the world - Narain Karthikeyan suffered a near fatal crash in the seventh round of the A1 GP - the World Cup of Motorsport in Durban.During practice, the A1 Team India driver pushed the car to the limit on the only street circuit on the calendar. At turn 2, he braked a little too late and lost control and went into the tyre wall around the edge of the turn. Due to the impact and the whiplash from the steering wheel, Narain hurt both his wrists very badly and didn���t race.Despite being advised not to race, Narain went ahead and took part in qualifying and placed the car in a creditable ninth place on the grid for the Sprint Race. But the pain was so much that he decided against taking part on race day, handing the wheels to rookie driver Parthiva Sureshwaran.Two weeks on, Narain is on the road to recovery from the swollen and damaged tendon. ������It was a soft tissue injury. I didn���t want to provoke it more in Durban. Though I wanted to go ahead and race, we thought it would aggravate the injury and put me out for the last three races,������ Narain told TOI.On his recovery process, he said, ������I started by doing normal and some strength building exercises. I did some physiotherapy as well. I���m trying to use my left hand (which hurt more) a lot more now.������Wasn���t it disappointing that he couldn���t race? ������Well, such things happen in racing and you can���t do anything about it. You just have to look forward to the next race,������ he said.The A1 GP bandwagon moves to Mexico for Round 8 next weekend. And Narain is positive about it, more so because the team recovered from the dip in terms of the car. ������It is quite a bumpy circuit. I raced there last year. It is a pretty difficult track, more so because it is at an high altitude (7,500 feet above sea level). But we know what to expect. In New Zealand and Australia, we underwent a dip in terms of the car. But we turned it around in South Africa and hopefully, it should continue,������ said the Coimbatore man, who will be heading to Mexico on Friday.