Abhijith N Kolpe
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Oct 22: It was a memorable Asian Games for the Indian contingent after winning more than 100 medals in the 19th edition of the games held at Hangzhou in China from September 23 to October 8. India bagged 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze medals in the Asian Games 2023 taking their tally to a record high of 107 medals.
Meet athlete Mijo Chacko Kurian, who hails from Panambur and is of Kerala descent. He won a gold medal in the 4X400 relay event at the Asian Games event. Mijo is an alumni of St Aloysius Urwa and Sharadha Vidyalaya. He was born to Kurian and Mini in Kerala and he had to shift to Mangaluru due to his work commitment of his parents and thereafter he started residing in Panambur.
During his initial days, Mijo showed interest in athletic events and was taking part at the district and state-level competitions. This eventually propelled him to greater heights after he started practicing at Mangala stadium under the tutelage of coach Dinesh Kunder. In 2019, he was inducted into the Indian Airforce in Bengaluru under the sports quota.
Mijo bagged the silver in the Asian championship 2023 held at Bangkok and took part in World Athletic championship held at Hungary. These two events helped him to get selected for the Asian Games 2023.
From October 2022 he was a regular at the Thiruvananthapuram camp under the Jamaican coach Jason. While India bagged the gold in 4x400 relay event, Qatar and Sri Lanka bagged the silver and bronze medals respectively. Ajmal, Anas, Amoj and Mijo made up for the relay team that represented India at the Asian Games.
Speaking to daijiworld.com, Mijo Chacko Kurian says he was confident that he would get selected for the Asian Games. “It was a surreal moment for us to win the gold for India at the Asian Games. After we won, the Indian contingent met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur who motivated us to perform better in the upcoming Olympics. I also had an opportunity to interact with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah,” he said.
“I am very happy to bag the medal a year after I began training at Thiruvananthapuram. I did not return home for a year. I worked hard, maintained a good diet and I feel my hard work has paid off. I intend to go back to Thiruvananthapuram in November to train there for next year’s Olympic games,“ said Mijo Chacko Kurian.