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MP's Usain Bolt Rameshwar Gurjar Finishes Last in Trials at SAI Bhopal

Curated By: Vivek Trivedi

News18.com

Last Updated: August 19, 2019, 21:50 IST

MP's Usain Bolt Rameshwar Gurjar Finishes Last in Trials at SAI Bhopal

Rameshwar Gurjar went viral on social media after a video of him running a 100m race barefeet in 11 seconds came out.

Bhopal: Dubbed as the next Usain Bolt, a village lad who was believed to have completed 100m sprint in 11 sec on the dusty tracks of his home town Shivpuri could not live upto to the expectations and could barely complete 100m distance in 12.9 seconds.

Invited for trials at TT Stadium in Bhopal under media glare, the 24-year-old from Rameshwar Gurjar who hails to Shivuri district could only finish seventh in the 100m sprint clocking 12.9 seconds against claims of 11 sec.

Still the Madhya Pradesh Sports minister Jitu Patwari was impressed with his zeal and passion for sports and announced that the lad would be kept at sports academy for one month and would be put under trial afterwards to see his mettle.

Disheartened by the dismal show, Rameshwar claimed that he has never sprinted on synthetic track and that too in sports shoes so these factors made him nervous.

A jobless youth who always aspired to be part of the army had in the past appeared in the recruitment test for the army but could not get selected. Afterwards he turned to running and practiced barefooted on dusty lanes of his village.

Recently his village sarpanch had organised a 100 m race announcing Rs 500 reward for the winner and Rameshwar took part in it and won the race. The youth had reportedly completed the race in 11 seconds.

A video of the said race had gone viral on social media catching the attention of senior leaders including - Shivraj Singh Chouhan, union sports minister Kiran Rijiju and state Sports minister Jitu Patwari.

Meanwhile it was Patwari who was first to get hold of the budding runner after the lad visited him on his bungalow on Saturday. The minister asked the athletics and sports officers to put the youngster under trail at TT Stadium on Monday.

However, the sprinter, a native of village Sikandarpur-Narwar could not live upto the expectations and finished last in the trial having seven athletes.

Earlier responding to the tweet of Shivraj Singh Chouhan who had sought help from union minister Rijiju, the latter had requested Chouhan to let the youngster reach him so that he could put him in athletics academy.

Buoyed by the media glare upon his arrival in Bhopal, the youth had called Usain Bolt his icon and wished he could break his record one day. The youth was said to be 19 but his actual age emerged as 24 years during trials.

Bolt an all-time great in athletics holds the world record in 100 m with a time of 9.58 seconds. The national record for 100m sprint is held by Amia Kumar Malik who had completed the race in 10.26 seconds in 2016.

Meanwhile, Rijiju tweeted: "Rameshwar Gurjar's trial run was conducted at TT Nagar Stadium by senior coaches of SAI and State Govt. Here, Rameshwar is seen running at extreme left. He is exhausted due to the glare of publicity so couldn't perform well. Will give proper time and training to him."
first published:August 19, 2019, 19:11 IST
last updated:August 19, 2019, 21:50 IST