‘Don’t like to get beaten’: Sprinter Amlan Borgohain reveals why he idolises Cristiano Ronaldo
‘Don’t like to get beaten’: Sprinter Amlan Borgohain reveals why he idolises Cristiano Ronaldo
Amlan Borgohain, who recently bettered the men’s 100m national record in a Railways meet to become India’s fastest man, is a huge fan of star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and draws inspiration from the Manchester United striker.
Borgohain became India’s fastest sprinter by running 100 metres in 10.25 seconds at the All India Inter Railways Athletics Championships in Raebareli on August 29. The 24-year-old surpassed the timing of Amiya Mallick, who had set the 100-metre race national record in 2016 by clocking 10.26 seconds.
Notably, Borgohain, who hails from Assam, also holds the national record in 200m as he clocked 20.52 seconds at the Federation Cup, which took place earlier this year.
Sri Amlan Borgohain of N.F. Railway @RailMinIndia won the Gold medal in the 100m run in the 87 AIR Athletics championship being held at Raebareli. He also broke the National record by clocking 10.25sec (the earlier National record was 10.26sec in 2016) #NationalSportsDay2022 pic.twitter.com/2mFvWZVRHe
— Northeast Frontier Railway (@RailNf) August 29, 2022
In an exclusive interview with Firstpost.com, Amlan, who hails from Assam, opened up on his journey so far and his coach James Hillier from Britain, who is in charge of the high-performance coaching center in Bhubaneswar, revealed what sets the sprinter apart from other athletes.
Amlan, who now ‘feels normal’ with the tag of India’s fastest man, wanted to become a footballer but switched to Athletics to avoid injuries.
“I left playing football due to avoid getting injured. Football is too risky. Also, my mother told me to stop playing football due to the same reason,” Amlan said.
“The transition wasn’t difficult because earlier in 2014-15, football was a dead sport, it was not booming up and then my brother suggested me to try my hands at athletics. So, in my first race, I finished second, and then I was like, ‘Why I came second? I want to win the race.’ So, that’s how it started. I don’t like to get beaten by someone,” he added.
On breaking the 200m and 100m national records, Amlan said, “Actually, I used to think about breaking the national records in the beginning phase of my career, but then my coach told me, ‘Amlan, just run your race, national records will come and go.’ So, after that I was not thinking about national records and I just ran my race and broke the records.”
Amlan also revealed that he idolises Ronaldo because of his never-give-up attitude.
“My idol is Cristiano Ronaldo because he never gives up. He is 37 years old and still wants to be number one. I draw inspiration from him.”
Small goals
Every sprinter looks up to legendary Usain Bolt and some even dream of breaking his world records, but Amlan believes in setting small goals for himself and wants to take life one step at a time.
“Breaking Usain Bolt’s world record is a huge thing. I never had thought because trying to finish a 100m race in 9.58 seconds (Bolt’s record) is a very big target and if I’ll try to set that target for myself then I might get scared of myself. So, I’m not thinking about what he (Bolt) did or if I can break his record, I just set small goals for myself.”
The journey so far has not been easy for Amlan as apart from giving his best on the track, the youngster has the responsibility of taking care of his family as he is the breadwinner in his household.
“My father is an ex-Army officer, so as he is retired his getting his pension and all. My mother mostly remains sick, so my brother doesn’t let her do any household work. My brother doesn’t work as he just takes care of mom. Currently, I am the only one in my family who is working. So, it’s pretty much hard. But, it is what it is and we have to face it.”
What's Your Reaction?
