Even after creating history with a record throw of 18.41 meters to create the New Meet Record (NMR) and win the coveted gold medal in the ongoing Federation Cup athletics in Bhubaneswar, Abha Khatua sounded nonchalant. 

Abha has not forgotten anything, her difficult days when the girl of a landless farmer at Khurshi village in West Midnapur had to go through dire financial distress and defy all odds to settle as the country’s best shot-putter. 

“I should not be ecstatic. I have to still go a long way,” uttered Abha while speaking from her home on Tuesday. Before returning to Sports Authority of India (SAI) Patiala on 16th May, the 29-year-old shot-putter is now at her home. 

On the very next morning after winning the gold medal in the competition, she left Bhubaneswar for her home. "I have come to see my parents after a long time," added Abha. 

Her last noticeable performance was in the Asian Championship last year. She threw 18.06 meters to ensure a silver medal. How did she reach from 18.06 to 18.41 meters in only nine months?

Abha explained she had worked out a lot on improving her technique thanks to her coach Parvir Singh at the SAI, Patiala. "SAI centre in Patiala has a world-class infrastructure, especially for shot-put and I am grateful to my coach for his hard work and care in training and monitoring my everyday performance in the training. His guidance helped me to make a big change in technique and the result was vivid,” explained Abha. 

Simultaneously, Abha mentioned about legendary USA shot-putter Ryan Crouser’s influence on her improvement stating, “I often watch his training and match video and try to implement his technique in the training also. I am hugely influenced by him.” 

The qualification mark for the Paris Olympics in her event is 18.80 meters. Abha has written a target mark on the wall in her room at the SAI hostel. That is '19 meters this year'. She revealed, “I wrote 18 meters target on the wall last year and I accomplished the distance last year. I have written 19 meters target this year on the wall.”

She continued, "So I know that I will have to achieve the target by this year." She did not sound worried at all about the Paris ticket! "I will obliviously try my best to earn qualification in the next three opportunities I will get. But I am not much worried about that,” added Abha.

She did not forget to mention Neeraj Chopra’s influence also. “Neeraj is different as a human being. I remember, even after his gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics he was at Patiala SAI center for training. I was suffering from injury at that time, doing my rehab." 

She added, "One day, having noticed Neeraj came to me and asked about my injury, and rehab and inspired me not to give up. Previously, he also advised me about the treatment. After the Olympics gold medal, he was already a superstar in Indian sport. I was moved by his down-to-earth attitude,” concluded.