Immediately after Sunday after 17:00, the phone rang inside Odism Secretary of Sachin Jadhavova on the third floor of the Kalinga hockey stadium. He was waiting for the call. Jadhav listened before he replied excitedly, “Congratulations. He did it. Yes, I’ll be there.”
The caller gave the news that Pratik Maharan, one of the best sprinting talents in Odish, just won the national title U20 Junior Championships 200M at the KALINGA stadium – venue of the track and field competition. It is barely 500 m, from where Sachin Jadhav sat. It was a kind of justification for the state and its coaches. Maharan has been a promising talent since he started competing on the U14 circuit. The 200m National Junior title ejected him that he was merely a promise to someone who was ready to take a huge step up – to the older phase.
Inside the Kaling Stadium, instead of the National Junior Athletics Championship, the Maharan victory added a touch of hysteria to the management. Maharan’s interviews continued. Odisha delivered the feeling of relief – not only the gold medal, but also the proof that the promise that the maharan showed Maharan was bore, although everyone knows that the journey before us became more challenging.
Behind the smile of the schoolboy, the innocence and the toned pleasure of victory, the mental battle will now begin. Victory brings a different type of pressure – continuity, stage, medal – and it is certain that it will and should continue this vein, due to the investment of Odisha in sport. In addition, Maharan was handed over to the baton to give the famous legacy of the state about the production of top sprinters.
Anuradha Biswal, whose recording of 100 meters of obstacles stood for 20 years until Yarraj had broken him; Rachita masters, which held both national records of 100 m and 200m; Srabani Nanda, still competing and part of the bronze relay team 4x100m in 2010 Commonwealth Games; Dutee Chand, the current National Record holder in 100 m (11.17 s) with two silver medals at the Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta (100 MA 200 meters) and later banned in 2023 after four years after the failure of the twins outside the competition; Amiya Mallick, once a National Record holder of 10.26 SA still runs an anchors foot for Oish’s impressive 4x100m team – these are just some of the best names that competed at the Olympic Games, Asian Games, Game Games and Asian athletic championships. Do not forget Lalu Prasad Bhoi, the main strength in national sprints, and the current 100m and 200m national record holder, Animesh Kujur, who trains in Bhubaneswar and competitions for Odish. There is enough history for Maharan to not only draw inspiration, but also imitate and overcome the state icons.
Random entry into athletics
Pratik Maharan won the National Junior Championship U20 200m at the Kalinga Stadium (with permission: Sundeep Misra)
Inside the media salon with the Maharan Fidgets. He never gave a number of interviews. Running races with back-to-back is easier; He would rather return to the track. His entry into athletics was a pure accident.
How many children playing crickets choose, they asked if they wanted to run, and even say, “Yes, let’s try”? Within two days, Maharan yoggned under the alert eye of Siba Mishhr, former coach Dutee Chand. It would be more than a year before he was asked for sprint. Patience, as Maharan says, was crucial. Then, during the U14 meeting in 2019, he was told to sprint. His acceleration caught his eye, and Siba Mishr knew she had a star in production. During the pandemic, Maharan ran on the road when it was allowed and gave packages for the rest of the time – a period that he didn’t like to talk about.
Its progress to the finals of 200 m, after disappointment from silver at 100 m, is impressive. In the preliminary regulations, 21.68 and 21.56 joined in the semifinals. “I had to be the best for the finals,” he says. “I made a bug in 100 ma I didn’t want to repeat it.”
The start was good, powerful. At the bend he was still in a group that included Pandjab’s Jasjit Singh Dhillon and Maharashtra’s Arnav Takalkar. One also needed to watch Karnataka’s D. Prteek, who created a brilliant last leg in a relay of 4x100m and cracked from behind to get gold from an almost impossible position. But Maharan settled in his step. He broke into the plane and stepped forward until he shot in the lead. “Then I realized that the race was mine,” he says. His powerful legs carried him across the finish line and broke the Mathur’s 2023 record and violated the World Junior Championship U20 qualifying mark 21.25. In one Maharan final, he took a big step to realize that he had realized his latent potential – a talent that, if raised, could take him to even greater heights.
Its improvement in the last three seasons has been proof of it. Of course, there is a huge gap between junior and senior levels – a completely different universe. Maharan is universal; Its running style still needs fine -tuning and the process of unlocking new approaches to sprinting continues. At present, its characteristic feature is reliability – its ability to monitor the process and build on its explosiveness. Amiya Mallick, a former National Record holder, said about Maharan’s victory: “Good application and experience will run 20.85/95.
Amiya analyzed running and added that the beginning could have been better, but “he recovered and his other half was very good, which shows that he has an excellent presence of mind in how he judged race.”
It was a long season for Maharan; That was his 10. Competition of the year. “I felt tired before the race,” he says, “but the top races will always be like that – you have to motivate from the inside and get this timing to qualify.”
Loyalty vs the opportunity
Animesh Kujur, training in a high -performance BhubaneSwar center, is an inspiration, as is the presence of Duee Chand during training in Rourkel. In front of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Maharan was trained with dutee and then said Siba Misra: “He has speed plus the power to complete the races.”
During training with Dutee Maharan says: “Sometimes comes to Rourkel and trains with us. It leads us to warm up, what to do after training, how to rest, how to condition our bodies and how to prepare for competitions.
Maybe Maharan Duee’s redemption is – her way to clean this doping stain by shaping another champion. In their goals there are similarities in the central part of the sprint. But there is a long way to dream of Maharan’s finals of the Asian Games, let alone finishing the stage, as his mentor achieved at the Asian Games Jakarta 2018.
The Great Academy will want to sign him, and this is already for Maharan Dilem – should he continue training in Rourkel with Siba Mishhra or move elsewhere to train and compete with better athletes? It looks like it’s an easy choice, but not for someone whose loyalty lies in the man who discovered him.
Professional sport is tireless in the elections it requires. Unfortunately, most opportunities are bound in time; Slight delay, the year slips around and in a short career of the sprinter that can feel like life. Victory is fun, but comes with a risk and victims. Athletes are not machines. He’s only nineteen. It is difficult to look at the maharan and think about probability and possibilities. Hopefully he will check the right boxes and make the right decisions.
– ends
Published:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
October 14, 2025
