Quarter-miler Ivana Tomy set to go far after impressive Kerala School Games performance

Three years ago, Ivana Tomy came for the Sports Authority of India’s athletics trials at Thalassery. SAI’s Jose Mathew, who had coached Asian long jump champion Mayookha Johny earlier, was impressed when he saw the frail little girl.

“She stood first in the tests at the trials but I was not very sure which event she would excel in,” said Mathew in a chat with Sportstar.

“I tried her in the 400m, 600 and 800m and she looks best in the 400m,” he added.

Ivana, representing Thalassery SAI, was at her best at the recent Kerala School Games athletics. Just 14, the girl from Payyavur in Kannur, clocked an impressive 57.71s to win the under-17 girls’ 400m gold. She was fourth on the home stretch but battled her way to the front.

“Considering her age, this is an outstanding performance. She has both speed and endurance, that is why she is able to finish well,” said Jose who has been coaching Ivana for two and half years now.

“She has a chance of getting into the Indian team in future,” Mathew said.

Ivana could be the find of the School Games athletics where stars like P.T. Usha, Shiny Wilson, Anju Bobby George and Ancy Sojan first popped up and which keeps bringing up talent every year.

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S. Ananya, from Kottayi GHSS in Palakkad, is another athlete who impressed at the Games held on the freshly relaid Maharaja’s Stadium synthetic track.

The 14-year-old produced a 5.72m long jump which fetched her the under-17 (junior) gold. Her performance was much better than the senior girls’ champion (G.V. Raja Sports School’s Akhila Mol, 5.54m).

“For a 14-year-old 5.72m is a huge jump. At that age, Mayookha was doing something like 5.20m. And when Mayookha won the National School Games senior girls gold, she did something like 5.55m,” said Mathew.

However, Mathew added a note of caution.

“We should keep track of an athlete for at least three years and we can be convinced if there is consistent improvement,” he said.

“Some schools give heavy workloads for this school competition, you’ll be frightened if you hear about some of the workouts. I heard about one school giving children 90 uphill repeats in one session. We give a maximum of 10 to 12 at the senior level,” he added.

DOUBLE JOY

There was also this interesting case of two 17-year-olds from Malappuram who broke the under-19 (senior) boys records in two distance events. Muhammed Ameen and Muhammed Jazeel, from Cheekode’s KKM HSS and who had a common birthday, pushed each other to records with both bettering the 1500m and 3000m records.

Ameen, however, won the golds and added a third with the cross-country title. The two, who are coached by Aamir Sohail, first took to sport with football and switched to running two years ago.