For the first time since she began her education, Harita Bhadra gave herself a year without having to divide her attention between studies and athletics.Last year, she graduated from Loughborough University in the UK with a BSc in Sports Science, Coaching and Physical Education. This year, she decided to focus only on athletics.The decision has already produced the most productive season of her career.A national indoor 60m title, multiple personal bests, a national 200m title, Asian Games qualification and now an 11.22-second 100m run have followed.The latest one took a moment to sink in.Bhadra had just won the 100m final at the Indian Athletics Series Final in New Delhi on Thursday. The clock showed 11.22 seconds, another personal best and the second-fastest time ever by an Indian woman in the event.She looked stunned. Then Unnathi Bollanda, who had finished fourth, came over and hugged her as Bhadra celebrated.The two will be teammates again at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. Both will compete in the 200m and 4x100m relay.“I was just very happy. Obviously, I’m very happy to have come away with a PB,” Bhadra told Timesofindia.com.From 23.14 to an Asian Games debutThe Asian Games will be the 23-year-old’s first international competition.She earned her place in the 200m after winning the event at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar in June. Her 23.14 seconds was inside the Asian Games qualification standard of 23.70 and moved her to ninth on India’s all-time list.Bhadra had already dipped below the qualifying mark in the heats, running 23.55.
harita bhadra asian games qualification
Her 200m form had been building through the season. In June, she ran 23.58 at Indian Series-10, at the time a lifetime best. Earlier, she had won the national indoor 60m title in 7.32 seconds.She will now take that form to the Asian Games as part of India’s athletics contingent.“I’m very excited to do the 200 because this will be like my first international event ever,” she said. “So I’m excited to represent India and do my best and get a medal for India.”When asked what a successful Asian Games would look like, she kept the answer simple.“Definitely being on the podium and getting a personal best.”A year without being a student-athleteThe decision to make athletics the priority this year came after years of being a student-athlete.“I’ve been tackling studies and sports since I started my education,” she said. “Last year, I graduated. I did a BSc in Sports Science Coaching and Physical Education from Loughborough University in the UK.”She wanted to see what a full year of training would bring.“And this year, I decided to give myself to athletics so that I can only focus on training because I’ve been a student-athlete since I started my education,” she said. “So I wanted to give this year to myself.”
Her sprinting started at Udayachal High School in Vikhroli, Mumbai. There were races at the school sports day. Her PE teacher suggested she join athletics, and the school also had athletics training.“So it started from school,” Bhadra said. She began competing at under-12 level. The shift in ambition came a few years later.“I think it was serious from like under 16,” she remembered. “I started [at] under 12, but from under 16, I was like, that’s I want to, you know, reach [the level] till like represent India and win medals for India.”Her family never made winning a condition.“I have never received any sort of a pressure from them that you should win, you should win or you’re not doing well or anything,” she said. “They have always supported me and they just want me to do my best, be happy.”That has allowed her to enjoy the sport without feeling that every race comes with an expectation to win.“It is because of this environment I get that I can also perform and, you know, be like enjoy and do the sport, not in a pressure sort of a way.”Bhadra has also found a different training environment over the last year.“It has been one year since I’ve joined Reliance Foundation. So definitely it has helped me so much.” she said.“And in that one year, I can see the progress I have made. It’s a collective progress of not just one year because I’ve been training for past years as well.“This is like my first time travelling with the team. So like, I don’t feel the short, like I feel like I have my family over here,” she said.“If I need anything, I have coaches, I have physios, I have a nutritionist, I have anybody to talk to. Plus the teammates as well.”Training alongside national and international athletes has also changed her daily routine.“Training with national athletes, international athletes in itself is like, okay, you have to push as well,” she said.“When you’re just regular day in training, you see the national athletes and everybody. So that definitely pushes you because you want to achieve that as well.”Jewellery, Rafael Nadal and life beyond the trackPlenty is going on in Bhadra’s life outside the track too.She has a handmade jewellery brand called Dagina. She designs and makes the jewellery herself and sells it online.“So I myself have designed and made jewellery and sell it online,” she said.
Bhadra talks about personality when asked about the sportsperson she admires most.Her idol is Rafael Nadal.“I just love his personality because mentally he’s so strong, but outside court he’s also such a good human,” Bhadra said.“He carries himself with so much humility and, you know, like, I don’t know the right word for it, but he’s been my idol. Like, that’s how I want to be.”She also admires Nadal’s respect for everybody and what she describes as a healthy rivalry.World Championships next, Olympics beyondFor Bhadra, the next target after the Asian Games is the World Championships next season.“Obviously it is the Asian Games for this season, but next season, the goal is the World Championship because I want to represent India for the Worlds,” she said.And the long-term target is clear.“Like everybody, an Olympic medal.”But Bhadra does not want to spend too much time thinking that far ahead.“My life mantra would be one day at a time,” she said. “Like I would only think about one day at a time. I don’t want to think so far ahead.”“But we will think step by step. I don’t want to think, and because thinking so far, I think for me is just adding pressure, unnecessary pressure.”“So you should just, like, my life mantra would be one day at a time.”
