Nanda's Funda!

Cutting every fraction of a second is a phenomenal exercise, but Srabani Nanda believes that “EVERYTHING IS IN YOUR MIND.” She is confident of getting to that higher level of performance, as she has been working hard, with discipline and determination.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

It is a track on which even an Usain Bolt may have struggled to make an impact. The track in Patiala, at the Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports, is “puffed’’ and “soft,’’ holding the athletes back from putting their best foot forward and getting their best time.

Of course, there is a brand new track coming up on the adjacent field, which could encourage athletes to rewrite old marks, in time to come.

IN SUCH A SETTING, it was no surprise that even after a six-month stint in Jamaica, the home of the most decorated athlete Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and many other greats, Srabani Nanda did not exactly set the track on fire.

“I am in the transition period,’’observed Srabani, who won the 200-metre gold and the 100- metre silver in the Federation Cup meet. She had returned from Jamaica on May 27, for the meet scheduled from June 1 to 4 in Patiala.

Focussed on preparation for the Asian Championship in Bhubaneswar in July and the World Championship in London in August, the 25-year-old Srabani was still in the training mode. Of course, she did compete in a series of events in Jamaica, but that was all part of the training process.