Athletics
Why expecting Srinivas Gowda to succeed in athletics is pointless?
Comparing a man who is being pulled by buffalo to a man who has established himself as the G.O.A.T is devoid of any kind of logic at its core.
The Kambala Jockey Srinivas Gowda shot to fame last year when he covered the distance of 100m in just 9.55 seconds. To put things into perspective this was 0.3 seconds faster than the world record held by Usain Bolt.
Naturally, this timing created a lot of hype surrounding Gowda and how he is the next sprinting sensation from India. He was even offered a national trial in athletics by the Sports Authority of India after the storm he had managed to create on social media. Gowda, though, denied taking the trails and instead credits his two buffalos for his speed and maintained that he wants to excel in the sport he plays rather than athletics.
Soon after this Srinivas Gowda faded into oblivion before rising again earlier this week. This time around, Gowda ran the distance of 100m in a bizarre 8.96 seconds.
Covering a distance of 100m in just 8.96 seconds even with two buffalos pulling you is no mean feat. Unsurprisingly the entire country is on their feet yet again as they continue to expect Srinivas Gowda to find the success he has enjoyed in Kambala in athletics as well.
Why is expecting Srinivas Gowda to succeed in athletics absurd?
The answer to this question lies in just one word. Buffaloes!
A lot of Srinivas Gowda's speed in the muddy tracks is directly related to the speed of two buffaloes pulling him. Remove the buffaloes from contention and we might witness Gowda's actual speed.
While the top speed ever recorded by Usain Bolt stands at 27.8mph, the buffaloes have traditionally been known to run at the speed of around 35mph. So, comparing a man who is being pulled by buffalo to a man who has established himself as the greatest of all time is devoid of any kind of logic at its core.
Besides, Kambala is held in the muddy tracks while the tracks in top-level athletics are made of polyurethane, latex or rubber. Running on such tracks is a different ball-game altogether and can make a lot of difference to the eventual performance of a runner.
So, how can one know if Srinivas Gowda is cut out for the top level?
Simple. Ask him to compete with the best runners of India or ask him to appear for the national trials. Gowda was given the opportunity for the same last year which he refrained from taking citing his passion to succeed in Kambala rather than athletics.
Srinivas Gowda might surely be an excellent runner. But, expecting him to match the standards of global level athletics on the basis of Kambala is just plain absurd.
