His was a sudden arrival, tragic exit

PEOPLE called him the `Second Milkha'. But the Flying Sikh would not agree. That honour would go to his arch rival, Makhan Singh, said Milkha Singh. Still, Milkha rated Kallekad Kumaran Premachandran (seen at the right in photo) as one of the best sprinters India has ever seen.

And it was a lasting tribute to a man who cast a brief spell on the country's tracks. A two-year soar which placed the gentle star among the Indian athletic greats. Preman, as he is fondly called, passed away in Kochi recently not in peace.

True, Milkha and Premachandran may be leagues apart but they share a unique honour. They are the only Indian men to win the coveted sprint triple at the Nationals. After Milkha's feat in the fifties, Premachandran achieved it at the 1981 Lucknow Open Nationals.

For a nation woefully short of sprint talent, Premachandran came like a whiff of fresh air. And soon after his Lucknow record, he was hailed as the successor to the Indian sprint king. He went on to win the 400 m silver medal at the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, the last Indian male to do so. All this after taking up the event only a year prior to the Games.

Preman's arrival on the national scene was sudden, as was his tragic exit. Till the age of 25, he was just a mediocre athlete but the Lucknow meet changed all that. And how !

A sprint treble is a very rare phenomenon, said Olympian Suresh Babu. ``And rarely do athletes attempt the 100 and the 400 metres the same time. Only exceptionally talented athletes can do it,'' added the 1978 Bangkok Asiad long jump champion. For sure, Preman was a gem.

Preman's career took a sharp about-turn, in 1980. ``And Olympian P.Rajasekharan was the man behind the big change,'' said Suresh Babu. The man who sprinted in the 1964 Tokyo Games, was the coach who polished Preman's talent to a lovely sparkle.

Preman, who hailed from Palakkad in Kerala, was packed with speed and his sprints were full of grace. ``I still very clearly remember his Delhi Asiad silver-medal run,'' said P. T. Usha.

``There was a nice rhythm in his strides, a certain grace. He did not appear very aggressive or powerful, as most sprinters do, but he balanced his sprint around the oval very nicely. No wonder, they called him the `Second Milkha', she said, adding ``I'd surely rate him as the best sprinter after Milkha.''

Milkha, who presented the Asiad silver to Premachandran, had a good word for Preman. ``Preman was very good, very hard-working and had a smooth running style, but surely Makhan Singh deserves the number two spot. I'd give Preman the next spot.''

``During my days, I was more worried about the challenge from Makhan than any of my international opponents. And in the 1962 Asian Games one-lapper, I won the gold, with Makhan taking the silver. We also helped India win the 1600m relay gold,'' said Milkha, who bettered the Olympic 400 m record in the 1960 Rome Olympics, though he narrowly missed the bronze.

The Delhi Asiad which carried Preman to new heights, also hurled him to the depths, literally. Just five days after his winning the silver, the fancied Indian team missed the 4x400 relay gold after a baton muddle between Pavithra Singh and Preman, who ran the last lap.

``Preman did not get the baton in time and worried, turned back. Pavithra Singh, already drained after the tiring run, also did not hand over the baton properly and in the confusion, it fell on the ground. And India missed a medal. There is no point in blaming anybody now,'' said Usha who was a witness to the event. Olympian T. C. Yohannan did not differ.

The incident shattered Preman. ``It haunted him for the rest of his life,'' said A.R.Radhakrishnan, a close friend and the Sports Officer with the Cochin Port Trust where Preman was employed.

Many insulted him for the medal miss and heart-broken, Preman left the track a few months after the Asiad. And unable to stand the blame, burden and agony, he hit the bottle soon.

His exit from the track was early and untimely. ``He quit at his prime. He was surely good for at least another five years,'' felt Usha.

Just when time appeared to heal his wounds, came another big blow in his life. The announcement of Arjuna Awards during the last few years hurt him a lot.

Athletes who had won just a bronze at the Asiad were given the honour while his silver was ignored. It is a fact that the Arjunas now have become a butt of ridicule, embroiled in controversy each year but the old ghosts seemed to haunt Preman. ``Probably, I'm still remembered for the baton mess-up,'' he had said a few times.

The sad thing is, we have come to a stage, when our stars have to apply for the Arjuna. Our heroes and heroines have to pull political strings to get what is rightfully their due.

There is a certain fall in the criterion for awarding the Arjuna. ``In our days, only Asian Games gold winners were bestowed the honour. That could be one reason why Preman missed the honour then,'' said Suresh Babu.

``But after 1990, there was a fall in the standard of Indian athletics and even Asiad bronze medallists started getting the award. And when an athlete who had won just a bronze in the 1982 Asiad got the honour, Preman must have been very upset,'' said Suresh Babu.

Thankfully, Usha is fighting for Preman's cause. ``I received a positive letter from the Union Sports Minister, Ms. Uma Bharti, just a few days before Preman's death,'' said Usha.

Hockey star Surjit Singh and yachtsman Kelly Rao were recently awarded the Arjuna posthumously. Will the departed soul rouse Delhi bosses' conscience now ?

STAN RAYAN

Kochi

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