Three years ago, the hurdler twins Vithya and Nithya Ramraj weren’t sure of where their careers were heading. After close to seven years in the sport, they only had a clutch of medals to show from domestic competitions and were desperately looking for a spark of inspiration to turnaround their fortunes.
It was in such state of despair that they came across coach Nehpal Singh Rathore. For the sisters, coach Rathore is not just a hard taskmaster on the field. He fills the role of a friend and mentor. At 25, Rathore is perhaps too young to be a coach but it’s also why the twin sisters share a special bond with him.
At the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre on Monday, Rathore’s presence was both a comfort and inspiration for Vithya when she finished first in her heat with a personal best timing of 55.42 seconds and also equalled India’s track legend PT Usha’s record in the 400m hurdles.
Pushed by Rathore, she has been stubbornly chasing the long-standing 39-year-old record this season and had come close to the mark twice. Later in the evening, Vithya won her first Asian Games medal — silver in 4×400 mixed relay.
Just two years ago, such a performance at the international level was only a dream for Vithya. She was showing no signs of improvement and her timing in the 400m hurdles was hovering around 59 seconds.
“I did not know what I was doing in athletics. Neeraj Chopra was winning an Olympic medal at 21 and I was winning only in national meets. I wasn’t improving, my performance had stagnated. My sister Nithya was training under Nehpal coach and she was getting results. She asked me to join him. He gave me hope. He came up with a plan and told me that you have potential and together we can go to the Asian Games, Olympics,” said Vithya.
“He is 25 but he is like a mature person. He had a vision for us. So, I didn’t think of his age or whether he has enough coaching experience, we followed him because he was telling us something different. We trusted him,” the 25-year-old added. “He is young and a new coach. I didn’t realise that he will do so well but I could see that in three years my graph has only gone up in every competition.”
That was the start of a beautiful journey. As a sprinter whose career came to an abrupt end due to injuries, Rathore had switched to coaching rather early. At Chennai’s Nehru Stadium, he used to train with Nithya and asked her if she would like train under him.
Rathore, himself, was in search of some sort of redemption through his trainees and he could see the talent in the twins. Their workouts completely changed. He focused on building their endurance and speed after seeing that the twins were lacking stamina in the last stretch. So, flat workouts were the order of the day first except on weekends.
Since they have joined Rathore, their graph has shown an upward trend. Vithya has improved with every meet. Last season she dominated at home, winning the National Inter-state championships (57.08s), National Games (56.57s) and National Open Championships (56.97s). She bettered her timing at the Qosanov Memorial in Almaty (56.87s).
This season, she is clocking even better timings — 56.01s at the Inter-State meet and 55.43 sec at Indian Grand Prix in September. Her sister Nithya’s graph in the 100m hurdles has also shown improvement. Both sisters qualified for the Asian Games and are competing in Hangzhou.
“It would not have been possible without Nehpal. We were preparing for the Asian Games for just eight months,” said Nithya. “I know him from 2018. We used to train together in Chennai. Then he left the sport. He asked me to join and told me we can think big. Some coaches will tell you that let’s go to the Nationals but he has giving me a bigger vision. That struck me first. He was talking with such conviction that I thought of giving it a try and then asked him to coach my sister too.”
If they need to open up on anything– be it their periods or take out their frustration after a bad run or just crack a joke, they have Rathore’s ear.
“He is more of a friend than coach. If we are having periods, getting cramps and pain we tell him and he understands. He will ask us to take it slow, adjust his training plans. He will get us coconut water. You can’t talk that openly with other coaches who are older to you. We are of the same age group, so we can have an open conversation. He really looks after every small thing about his trainees.”
So much that the sisters call him their ‘Google’. “If we have to write a letter, prepare any document, we will call Nehpal. We don’t go to google, we go to Nehpal,” laughed Nithya.
From their choice of sprinting shoes to their diet, Rathore is on hand to fix any problem for the girls. He even spends his own money to travel with his trainees wherever they compete.
At the Asian Athletics Championships in July, Rathore’s bag used to be filled with fruits, juices and snacks.
“In Thailand, we were getting meals in the hotel twice and we were getting hungry because we are working out and we need to eat intermittently. He would be there for morning workouts and even if we forget to buy, he would come prepared with juices and snacks, or some food. His bags would be ful of our items cap, water, umbrella.”
That’s Rathore way of caring about his trainees and providing them all comfort in a new place so that they can focus on training. On the ground, the do not expect any such freebies.
“Except when on ground, he is nice. He is very strict as a coach,” said Vithya. “He pushed us so much. If we are very tired and not able to finish the distance, he will insist, ‘just finish it by walking but finish it.’ We have seen many coaches who will askk you to take rest when you are tired. Nehpal will never ask you to take rest. ‘Just go and run, nothing doing’,” said Vithya.
And the approach has clearly had the desired impact. The twins are getting closer to their goals but they can count on Rathore to let them know that they are far from done.