Fortunately for us at the BOSM English Press, we didn’t have to run around much to catch up with Akul Malhotra, the captain of the boys athletics team. Akul gave the BEP a rundown about the athletics team as he jumped between topics and threw around impressive performance numbers about his team.
The boys athletics team of BITS Pilani takes part in three broad categories of events – running, jumping, and throwing. Running encompasses three distance categories – short (100-400m), middle(800-1500m), and long(3-5km). Throwing comprises of javelin and shot put, while the two jumping events are triple jump and long jump. The team currently has four third years, five second years, and three first years. Only two members take part in the throwing events, and two members in the jumping events. The runners confine themselves to a category – either short, middle, or long – and train specifically for that category of events. Curiously, the team currently does not have a coach. Ujjwal, an experienced fourth year student and ex-captain, advises the athletes and introduces workouts.
Last year, the Athletics team took part in IIT-Roorkee’s sports festival. Akul describes that time as a high point in the team’s history. ‘The sports fest of IIT-Roorkee was probably our team peak. Our team has never given better timings and jumps than before. We got two golds and one bronze. So that’s reasonable.’ Speaking about medal prospects for this year’s BOSM, Akul was fairly optimistic. ‘Last year, we pretty much won almost every event. This year, IIT Delhi is coming, and so gold medals might be slightly harder.’
Akul started running formally only after joining college, but since sixth grade, he’s been interested in fitness. Akul credits school sports days with inciting his passion for running and fitness. Speaking about captaincy, Akul says ‘Being a captain is fun. You need to manage the entire team, you have to manage all the behind the scenes things. That is a new experience. It’s always great. There are new first years, fun to talk to.’ Akul doesn’t consider sports a burden, but rather as a part of his life. He says the added responsibility hasn’t affected his academics or his performance on track, save for when he got injured over summer. Back then, he had to make a choice between focusing on captainship, or getting himself back into shape. Akul says he chose the former, but he believes that unless such a situation arises, captainship needn’t affect his running or any other part of his life.
In conclusion, Akul asks BITSians to give importance to their fitness. ‘Generally, people should start running, to focus on their fitness. BITS in general, with our culture, it’s quite poor in terms of taking care of your health. Even if you don’t want to take up a sport as such, go outside every day for half an hour. Give your body some workout.‘