Borgohain & Toppo shine at inaugural RF Odisha HPC competition series

Athletes from the Reliance Foundation Odisha Athletics High Performance Centre (HPC) in Bhubaneswar registered a formidable 100 private greatest (PB) timings over the 4 competitors sequence that concluded on the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday, November 8. The Sprint and Middle distance fest that started on October 24 with additional occasions on October 28 & 31 earlier than the finale on Sunday, was contested in a uniquely designed idea of “Performance Graded Races.” In a major departure from observe, races at these competitions had been graded fully on timings achieved by athletes, regardless of their age or intercourse.

Among the standout performers on the competitions was Amlan Borgohain who consolidated his place as the highest ranked 200m sprinter in India in 2020 with a PB of 21.20 seconds within the remaining competitors on Sunday. In the 100m as nicely, Borgohain, ran a PB of 10.63 seconds, making it his sixth PB in six races over the competitors sequence (Three every within the 100 & 200m). His efforts deservedly received him the Best Overall Performance Award for your entire Sprint and Middle Distance Fest. Head Coach James Hillier, who chosen Borgohain after a 4 week trial in April to affix the HPC, believes the competitors sequence offered a glimpse into his large potential and the 22-year previous will solely go from power to power from right here.

“Amlan’s time of 21.20 in the 200m is a significant improvement on his personal best of 21.89 set prior to joining the HPC,” says Hillier. “His progress has been somewhat meteoric, making huge improvements in all areas of his training over the past 7 months.”

“Areas such as specific sprint training, nutrition, body fat analysis, psychology, weight training, flexibility, recovery and conditioning to name a few are looked into in incredible depth for Amlan,” provides Hillier. “During our periodic performance assessments we established that Amlan had gained lean muscle mass whilst dropping weight and fat percentage – he was therefore pound for pound more powerful. It was a highly structured training approach that has helped him improve so rapidly since joining the HPC.”

Amlan’s subsequent purpose is to drop his timing to under 21 second earlier than he can intention to signify India on the senior stage.

Another athlete who impressed throughout the course of the competitions was dash hurdler Sabita Toppo, who is simply 15-years previous. Toppo, who hails from Sundargarh and joined the HPC in August final yr, achieved 4 PBs in six races together with three in her favoured 100m hurdles occasion. In the second race of the ultimate competitors on Sunday, Toppo clocked 14.54 seconds, and has now improved her timing by greater than two seconds since approaching board on the HPC. Hillier describes Toppo as an “incredible natural talent” and “ferocious competitor.” Considering her younger age, the method being adopted is for her to compete in multi-events earlier than a attainable transfer to the hurdles solely in the long run.

Due to restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 4 competitors sequence was restricted to the 29 athletes from the HPC, who’re cut up between the monitoring cohort and the academy. Athletes within the cohort are recognized as being a most of 5 years away from profitable a nationwide stage medal. 20 such athletes from throughout Odisha are at the moment a part of the monitoring cohort and reside on the Bhubaneswar state sports activities hostel whereas 9 (6 from Odisha) are a part of the HPC academy group and reside on the Athletics HPC within the Kalinga stadium.

Athletes within the academy group are recognized at varied phases of improvement from being two years away from profitable a nationwide stage medal to these with established worldwide credentials. Hillier is assured that the expertise of taking part in a aggressive setting, as they’ve over these 4 occasions, could be a useful lesson for the athletes.

“Athletes were exposed to relevant learning experiences such as a 2-call room process which they will be exposed to in national and international competitions in the future,” he explains. “International norms such as photo finish and electronic timing were used to give the athletes accurate timings and a professional competition experience. Whether the athletes are established or fairly new to the sport we wanted as a team to see process, learning and subsequently performance improvements across the 4 competitions. It was also a great opportunity to learn more about the individual preparations of our athletes so we can better optimise the peaking process in competitions next year.”

“It would have been very easy for us in the current pandemic to have not had a competition at the end of our training year,” he elaborates. “However we were determined that we could find a way to make it happen – and we did! We listened to what the athletes wanted as they are central to everything we do – quite simply we want to give them every opportunity to perform at their best. So we made the races competitive with disregard for age and sex, we included pacemakers and we had lively music between the races to help keep the athletes energised.”

The athletes will now have the chance to relaxation and rejuvenate because the HPC takes a three-week break, a interval Hillier hopes will probably be spent on reflection.

“They will need to ask themselves questions such as ‘What would I do differently if I had this opportunity again?’ ‘What have I learnt?’ ‘What did I do well?’ ‘What do I need to work on and improve?’”, he concludes. “The process of reflection should be a consistent process that happens after all competitions and will help and guide athletes to get better and reach their genetic potential.”

RF Odisha HPC Competition Series

1.Best Overall Performance- Amlan Borgohain for his 200m efficiency/s

2.Best Male Performance – MD Almagir Hussain

3.Best Female Performance- Sabita Toppo

4.Most Improved Athlete- Balabadra Bhatra

5.Most Consistent Athlete- Debi Prasad Kar

6.Best Monitoring Cohort Performance- Mohendra Santa

7.Best Newcomer- Laxmi Priya Kissan

8.Athlete’s Athlete of the Year (voted by the athletes)- Birsa Gagarai

Additional Awards for the top of yr

1.Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year (voted by the athletes). Birsa Gagarai

2.Dedicated Athlete of the Year (voted by the athletes). Aryan Ekka

3.Best Student of the yr HPC & MC Combined. Athlete who did nicely in Academics- Sawan Toppo

4.Male Captain for 2020 – 2021(voted by the athletes) – Amlan Borgohain

5.Female Captain for 2020 – 2021 (voted by the athletes)- Laxmi Priya Kissan