Jinson Johnson- The Rising Star of Indian Athletics

Jinson Johnson has been delivered some extremely impressive results in recent times

Indian Athletics seems to have got a new lease of life with the emergence of talented athletes like Srabani Nanda, Tintu Luka, Jinson Johnson, and many others. These promising youngsters have been consistently performing well in various events around the world and making the country proud.

With their performances speaking for themselves, a lot of hopes and expectations are riding on these young prodigious athletes for the Rio Olympics next year. These athletes have been working really hard and putting in all of their efforts in doing their best in whatever events they take part in. One of them is Jinson Johnson.

Johnson is being as seen as the next big thing in Indian athletics, and his recent performances have been justifying the fact. The 24-year-old youngster from Chakkittapara, Calicut district has been making waves in the 800m event at various national and international competitions and is already a medal hopeful for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

At the recently concluded Asian Athletics Grand Prix Games, in Thailand, Johnson bagged three gold medals on the trot. The phenomenally talented athlete clinched his first gold medal in the first leg of the event, being held in Bangkok on June 22, 2015. he led from the front and emerged victorious with a timing of 1:48:52.

He won his second gold medal in the 800m event in the second leg of the tournament, on June 25, 2015, with a timing of 1:49:85, beating Hearth Induril of Sri Lanka and Moselem Niadoost of Iran, who finished second and third respectively. He completed his hat-trick of gold medals in the third and final leg of the competition, with a timing of 1:50:56 on June 29, 2015.

The youngster had also won a silver medal in the 800m event at the Asian Athletics Championships held in Wuhan, China, prior to the Asian Grand Prix Games. The youngster thanks his hard work, determination and the efforts put in by his coach for his exceptional performance over the last few months.

Coach foresees a successful career for Jinson

Mohammad Kunji, his coach at the Army Sports Institute in Pune and at the national camp only retained him from a pool of runners who he started training in 2011 for the 800m event. His coach believes Johnson’s determination and focus makes him stand apart from the other athletes. He is not someone who would give excuses and works really hard to find success in all the races he takes part in. According to him, Johnson has a bright future if he continues to train the way he is training right now.

At the 55th National Inter-State Championships, he again clinched the gold medal with a timing of 1:51:02. Johnson first made a mark for himself at the Federation Cup in May, which was held in Mangalore. He won gold medals in both the 800m and 1500m events.

The Junior Commissioned Officer posted at the artillery centre in Hyderabad has a personal best of 1:47:58 in the 800m event. His performance gave him a spot in the Indian team which went for the event in Wuhan, where he won the silver medal with a timing of 1:49:69.

Being the busy man that he is, his next stop is the services championships in Hyderabad, followed by the World Military Games to be held in October. With less than a year to go for the qualifications for the Rio Olympics, the youngster wants to improve his personal best by 2 seconds, as the qualifying mark for the Olympics is 1:45:80.

Johnson believes he would move closer to his dream of participating in the Olympics if he continues to perform well at various international events.

With his eyes set on the World Military Games, the athlete has been putting in consistent performances in a quest to be the very best in the 800m event. Let’s hope this rising star continues to bring more laurels for the country, and make the nation proud.