23 years after Rakesh Yadav, Tanya Chaudhary keeps Baghpat’s hammer throw legacy alive with national record

Tanya Chaudhary (Photo by TOI) NEW DELHI: It took Tanya Chaudhary a while to put her feelings into words. She had very good reason to be stunned by this event. With a throw of 68.35m, the 22-year-old just broke the national hammer throw record at the Indian Athletics Series Final.Uttar Pradesh’s Chaudhary had several aspects to celebrate at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. She broke Anushka Yadav’s national record of 67.02m in June. She surpassed Anushka (66.34m) in the competition. The record comes within days of her flying to Japan for the Asian Games, which begin on August 19. Finally, she just put Baghpat back on the hammer throw map – something Rakesh Yadav did with a throw of 70.13m in 2003.The chain and iron throw of 68.35m was a big improvement on her personal best of 63.91m last year. It was even higher than the 65.60m she managed at the Inter-University Athletics Championships in January.Under the leadership of Sachin Yadav, its foundation was laid at Shri Krishna Inter College in Baleni, Baghpat. And here, almost 70 km away, her goal of the last three years was fulfilled.“I’ve been chasing this goal for the past three years. I’ve recorded 65 meters before and unofficially registered it two or three times. But now that I’ve finally achieved it and more, I’m very happy,” she said with a smile.Her path to the Asian Games was not straightforward.She’s been dealing with injuries since January: a knee problem, a femur stress injury and an ACL. Then in June, in Bhubaneshwar’s floodlights at the interstate championship, she missed the qualifying mark by just two centimeters. Anushka, her fellow UP compatriot, topped the rankings then and also set a national record.“I missed the national record last time, but it’s good that we (she and Anushka) come from the same training facility. So it’s good for us to learn and compete with everyone,” she told reporters after bagging Rs 100 as the winner of the event.“The second place actually gave me a goal that got even bigger. That I have to make more effort, work even more on my shortcomings. It’s good that we can compete with each other and improve,” she continued.Despite the disappointment of missing the qualifying mark straight away, she still found her way into the 503-strong Indian contingent for Aichi-Nagoya. Leading the challenge will be China’s Jiale Zhang, who set a continental record of 78.64m at the Chinese Championships.“Obviously the goal is to be better. Now that I’ve improved on my personal best, it would be the bare minimum to match it. The 70m target is not far now. It’s almost 1.5m now.”“My goal this year was to reach 70m, but the injury hindered me and affected me. But now that I have gained strength, I hope to be able to reach 70m as well,” she finished.