Pavithra Vengatesh is aiming to smash the Pole Vault National Record
Writer : M Sudharshan
Twenty Year-old Pavithra Vengatesh from Salem representing Periyar University at the Khelo India University Games,2022 cleared the mark of 4.00m which made her the 5 th Indian to clear the 4.00m mark. Aiming for the next high raised the bar to a height of 4.15m which is the current national record. She wanted to break the long-standing record in the KIUG games itself.
Instead of attempting 4.10m, she confidently asked for the bar to be raised above the national record held by VS Surekha in 2014. Watched and egged on by Surekha, who was a technical official at the event, Pavithra failed to clear the height on each of her three attempts. Nevertheless, she took home the gold medal making steady progress.
“Mentally I was prepared for it, but I struggled with a new heavier pole.” – Pavithra to ANI
Source The Hindu
Pavithra didn’t stop there but she went on to participate in the 94th TamilNadu State Athletics Championship in Coimbatore. She went on to clear the bar with a distance of 4.10m just 0.05m short of the National record V S Surekha. This record was set in 2014. Surekha is married to another national record holder Renjith Maheswari
A transition from Track to Field
Hailing from Salem a small town in Tamil Nadu, P.Vengatesh who intially started as a 400m runner shifted to Pole Vault at the age of 12 when her school Sarada Vidyalaya Girls’ Higher Secondary School coach introduced Pole Vault in athletics programme. She has been putting up good performances since the south zone junior meets, Calicut 2021. In this event, she cleared a distance of 3.80m which is a junior National record. She cleared the bar with a height of 3.90m bringing in gold.
Pavithra is being trained by K. Elamparithi. He is a Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu Coach who had mentored Mariyappan Thangavelu when the Para-star first burst in the scene.
She’s young, has only been doing this for 5-6 years and has already broken a few records. She will get better. – Elamparithi to ANI
A look at Pavitra’s performance since 2021 one sees has improved her jumps by 0.10m in every event she has participated in. At the age of 20, she is looking threatening enough to take pole vault to greater heights in India.
A Comparison on CWG & Asian Games
She is currently the India Lead in terms of Women Pole Vault in 2022 while comparing with the Asian lead she finds herself at 7th position. Chunge Niu of China holds the Area Lead with a 4.50 leap.
The last Asian games gold came at 4.60m by li ling of China while the CWG Games Gold was won by Newman from Canada at 4.75m. She is a promising talent we hope the young Pavithra will bridge this gap in months to come and we will see an Indian competing on the world stage in Pole Vault.
