Odisha continues to battle a heatwave with temperatures at Inter-State Championships

As Odisha experiences a relentless heatwave at the second day of the Inter-State Athletics Championships, athletes are facing unprecedented challenges due to the scorching temperatures and soaring humidity. The extreme weather conditions have prompted concerns about the well-being and performance of the athletes, prompting organizers to take special precautions.

With temperatures exceeding 44.4 degrees Celsius and humidity levels peaking, athlete Tejaswin Shankar was bleeding from his nose on the second day of the Inter-State Championships. Later, steeplechase gold medallist Balkishan was also seen retching after his race.

The combination of high temperatures and humidity puts athletes at risk of dehydration, heatstroke, and muscle cramps While dealing with the pressure of qualifying for the Asian Games. The Indian Meteorological Department issued a yellow warning to cities around Bhubaneswar.

Tejaswin, who had been training in Arizona (USA), was luckily okay to continue and competed through the day in five disciplines in the decathlon event. In the three morning disciplines, Tejaswin accumulated 2368 points and had to play catch-up in the evening with the high jump and 400m to take his tally to 4209 points.

Recognizing the severity of the situation, at the end of the 400m finals, a desolate-looking Vithya Ramaraj made her way off the track despite winning bronze. "I couldn’t recover, We had a 400m semifinal in the morning." Vithya couldn’t improve her timing in the final.

There was no respite on the opening day as well, with humidity levels touching 90 per cent. The 20km and 35km race walkers wildly missed their Asian Games qualification marks due to the adverse conditions. National record holder Priyanka Goswami, who finished close to 12 minutes behind her personal best time in the 20km race walk, felt the time was par considering the heat. The Inter State was originally scheduled for Ranchi in the July window before it was moved to Bhubaneswar. But the Olympic Council of Asia’s (OCA) insistence on needing the squad from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the Hangzhou Asiad by July 15 meant the championships were moved ahead by a month.

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Mohamed Azarudeen, another coach at Bangalore SAI, while acknowledging the challenge for the athletes, argued that states also need to do their part to ensure they are well taken care of at a major event. "It’s not about just paying for the travel tickets and sending them over. They could have made arrangements for physiotherapists and nutritionists to be sent here along with the athletes." He said.

With the excitement surrounding a strong field of contenders taking center stage at the Inter-State, several national records were expected to fall. However, no NRs have been broken thus far. With the heatwave expected to last two more days, one would hope the athletes remain unscathed at the end of it all.