It is heartening to find the news of six veteran athletes from Himachal Pradesh participating in the 25th World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships, which will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 13th to 25th August 2024.
Regarding the players to compete in the above 65 years age category, we have long-distance runners Surinder Singh Dehal (in 10,000m) and Ashwini Kumar Sharma (in 1500m and 2000m steeplechase, and 800m). Harish Kumar (in triple jump), Dwarika Thakur (in 1500 metres and 5000 metres) and Brijlal Thakur (in 100m and 300m hurdles) will compete in the 60-above age group, whereas Bhishan Singh Chauhan (in javelin throw, discus throw and shot put events), will compete in the above 55 years age group.
The exemplary spirit, energy, and grit of these senior athletes deserve undiluted praise, more media mileage, and handsome state patronage. It is hoped that they will enhance India and Himachal Pradesh’s honour at the forthcoming World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships.
For Ageless Champions
It deserves to be mentioned here that the World Masters Athletics Championships are the biennial championships for masters athletics events held under the auspices of World Masters Athletics for athletes who are 35 years of age or above.
In the World Masters Athletics Championships, the age groups for competing are 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74,75-79, 80-84, 85-89,90-94, 95-99 and 100+, which makes this unique international level competition open to all athletes above 35. This competition perhaps implicitly signifies that where there is a strong will, age reduces to merely being a number. World Masters Athletics Championships are a global celebration of athleticism and sportsmanship. Here, all competitors are champions in the real sense, whether they win or not.
Sporting events under the World Masters Athletics Championships are broadly classified under two categories -Non-stadia and Stadia. Simplifying further, non-stadia events are usually held on road and/or cross-country courses, unlike others, in the stadiums. They are usually the longer distance events. Stadia events are those athletic events which are generally held within the stadium. They are basically running events on an oval track and jumping and throwing events held in various specialised fields.
The World Masters Athletics Championships have two versions—outdoor and indoor. The first edition of the World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships took place in Toronto, Canada, in 1975 and continued biennially in odd years until 2015. Since 2016, the biennial event has been held every year. In Gothenburg, the second edition of the World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships was held from 8th to 13th August 1977. Again, Gothenburg will host this international sporting event after a more than four-decade gap.
The first edition of the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships took place in Sindelfingen, Germany, from 10 to 14 March 2004. The event was held biennially every year until 2014. Since 2017, it has been held biennially every odd year. The last edition took place in Torun, Poland.
For the 2024 World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships in Gothenburg, about 8000 athletes from over 100 nations will participate. Including athletes and their travel companions, the organisers estimated that around 20,000 people will be visiting Gothenburg during the championships.
Inspiring Women
In the last edition of the World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships, which was held in Tampere, Finland, from 29 June to 10 July 2022, 94-year-old Bhagwani Devi Dagar, while showing tremendous zeal and spirit, won a gold medal for India in the 90-94 age category. She completed the 100 m race at 24.74 seconds, which is a startling feat for a person of 94.
She also won three gold medals in shot put and discus throw in the 95-99 age category at the 9th World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, which was held in Torun, Poland, from 25th to 31st March 2023. Born in Khedka village of Haryana, Bhagwani Devi Dagar was married at 12 and widowed at 30. She faced many financial struggles in her younger days, but hardships failed to deter her from being a champion.
Take the example of Man Kaur, who began pursuing athletics at the age of 93 and went on to win several gold medals at the World Masters Athletics Championships.
Extraordinary women like Man Kaur and Bhagwani Devi Dagar can inspire several players participating in this unique sporting event to excel beyond their age.
