Sunny Patil Veer Wajekar College Phunde sets record in 400m

Sunny Patil of Veer Wajekar College in Phunde broke a record previously held for 21 years in the men’s 400m event at the inter-collegiate athletics meet organised by Lords Universal College, Malad, at Mumbai University ground, Marine Lines, on Saturday.
Patil, who’s in the second year of Bachelor of Arts, completed 400m in 49.4 seconds to bag gold and better the previous record of 50.2 seconds set by V Doomasia in 1990-91.

Only two feats were bettered at the meet, the other being a long jump record of 7.10m set in 2006-07 by S Bangera, which was bettered by a jump of 7.14m by Tejas Salian of VG Vaze College.
Nineteen-year-old Patil had spent a year at the Shri Chhatrapati Krida Sankul, Balewadi, but had to return home as the coaches there felt his performance was not up to the mark.

The setback only spurred him to do better. “I was in standard eighth when I got selected at the institute in Pune after topping the battery test in the state. However, they felt I was not good enough after a year. They were going to transfer me to their Thane centre. I thought it was unfair. An athlete takes time to perform, especially at that age. I did not wish to train in Thane as the facilities in Pune were much better. So I returned home and decided to train in Uran. I have been training at the Uran Sports Club under Dilip Patil. Now I beat the Pune boys every time in the state meets,” he said.

Patil has played seven nationals so far, the most recent being the under-20 games in Bhopal where he won a silver in 400m. He dreams to get into the national team. He said, “I want to represent the country in big events like the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. In order to do that, I have started competing in the open category. I know I will have to start timing 47 seconds.”

The youngster credits his father for his success in athletics. He said, “My father is a rickshaw driver by profession. The monthly expenditure for my training and diet can be anywhere between Rs 4000 and Rs 5000, but despite our limited means he ensures I get the needful.”