It is not easy for an athlete to succeed at the highest levels both on the track and in the field. “Carl Lewis did it,” smiles the Indian Athletics Academy’s coach, C. Muralidharan. “Then again, he was Carl Lewis.” As far as role models go, S. Lokesh can choose no better than King Carl.

A young long jumper and sprinter at the Academy, Lokesh brightened his already-impressive CV with gold medals in both events at last month’s State Junior Athletics Championships.

On the face of it, and compared against the raft of records that tumbled at the meet, his feats may not appear eye-catching.

But at 14 years and nine months, and still in his first season in the under-16 age-group, Lokesh stood head and shoulders above his mostly-older rivals.

He leapt a distance of 6.71m in long jump, before clocking 11s flat in the 100m dash, winning both convincingly.

“I don’t think about my competitors,” says Lokesh. “My only goal is to improve on my previous performance.”

It is an approach that appears to have served him well. Last August, Lokesh drew attention in Karnataka’s athletics circles after he broke the under-14 boys’ long jump record at the state meet in Shimoga with a distance of 5.90m.

At the Junior Nationals only a couple of months later, he grabbed a bronze with an effort of 6.14, and made the final of the 100m with a time of 11.91.

In themselves, his performances are impressive; but equally significant has been his sharp progress.

In little over a year, Lokesh has sliced nine-tenths of a second off his 100m time and added eight-tenths of a metre to his leap in the long jump.

Such improvement may not be uncommon at his age, but at a height of 5’11”, he is a hugely exciting prospect.

“I expect to see him at the international level in two years’ time,” says Muralidharan.

“He has the talent, but he also has the dedication. He is fully focused on what has to be done.”

It helps that Lokesh hails from a family of sportsmen. His father, L. Sathyanathan, is a wing-back for Bangalore Reds in the State ‘C’ division football league. Sathyanathan’s brother, L. Kantharaj, and father, K. Loganathan, were also footballers. Lokesh took up competitive athletics inspired by his cousin,

A. Lokeswaran, a 400m runner. “I used to ask him what the 100m was, what the 200m was, and how the hurdles were won. I decided I wanted to be like him,” he says.

Sathyanathan admits that his son, a class 10 student at Sacred Heart Boys High School, has taken even his parents by surprise.

“I could see that he had the attitude and the will-power. But he has surpassed my expectations,” he says. “All this has been possible, though, only because of the support from people around us. I’ve been a driver for 18 years and my sister has helped me all along. The Shanthinagar MLA, N.A. Haris, has also been very kind to us.”

Sathynathan dreams that his son will make it to the Olympics one day, although he insists that there is no burden of expectation on the boy. “If he has a bad day at a competition, we don’t bring it up at home,” he says. “We don’t force him to do anything.”

For now, Lokesh’s sights are fixed on the targets his coach has set for him: 7m and 10.7s next summer.

The South Zone championships, which begin in Hyderabad next week, will prove a strong test of his mettle. “I know how what my goals are,” Lokesh states. “I will work towards them every day.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by ShreeDutta Chidananda / October 05th, 2014