{"id":266280,"date":"2026-10-07T15:07:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/07\/i-am-not-pushed-enough-national-record-holder-vithya-sets-sights-on-sub-54-run-next\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T15:07:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:07:49","slug":"i-am-not-pushed-enough-national-record-holder-vithya-sets-sights-on-sub-54-run-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/07\/i-am-not-pushed-enough-national-record-holder-vithya-sets-sights-on-sub-54-run-next\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I am not pushed enough\u2019: National record holder Vithya sets sights on sub-54 run next"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"picture verticle\"><picture><!--[if IE 9]><video style=\"display: none;\"><![endif]--><source media=\"(min-width: 1600px)\" sizes=\"960px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/sport\/5lmjzy\/article71556595.ece\/alternates\/LANDSCAPE_1200\/VITHYA.jpeg\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1599px)\" sizes=\"640px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/sport\/5lmjzy\/article71556595.ece\/alternates\/LANDSCAPE_1200\/VITHYA.jpeg\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 321px) and (max-width: 767px)\" sizes=\"400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/sport\/5lmjzy\/article71556595.ece\/alternates\/LANDSCAPE_660\/VITHYA.jpeg\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 320px)\" sizes=\"320px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/sport\/5lmjzy\/article71556595.ece\/alternates\/LANDSCAPE_320\/VITHYA.jpeg\"\/><!--[if IE 9]><\/video><![endif]--><\/picture><\/div>\n<p class=\"caption\"><b>Colourful haul: <\/b>Vithya won one each of gold, silver and bronze from Aichi-Nagoya!<br \/>\n                                          | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY\n                                      <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"content-body-71556331\">\n<div class=\"schemaDiv\" id=\"schemaDiv\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p> Vithya Ramraj still cannot understand the hype surrounding her.<\/p>\n<p>The 28-year-old, who emerged as one of India\u2019s standout performers at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, returned with three medals and a National record in the 400m hurdles, breaking P.T. Usha\u2019s 42-year-old mark.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the last Asian Games (2023) in Hangzhou, I won three medals. I don\u2019t know why I became popular this time,\u201d she told select media at a function organised by jewellery brand Tanishq (Anna Nagar) on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>She might sound modest, but her performance speaks for itself. She played the anchor role brilliantly to help India win the gold medal in the women\u2019s 4x400m relay, ran a brilliant race to break Usha\u2019s long-standing record in the 400m hurdles (bronze) and did well to guide India to a silver in the 4x400m mixed relay.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline_embed article-block-item\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud835\udc08\ud835\udc0d\ud835\udc03\ud835\udc08\ud835\udc00&#8217;\ud835\udc12 \ud835\udc0e\ud835\udc0d\ud835\udc0b\ud835\udc18 \ud835\udc06\ud835\udc0e\ud835\udc0b\ud835\udc03 \ud835\udc08\ud835\udc0d \ud835\udc00\ud835\udc13\ud835\udc07\ud835\udc0b\ud835\udc04\ud835\udc13\ud835\udc08\ud835\udc02\ud835\udc12 \ud83c\udf1f<\/p>\n<p>The quartet of Kiran, M. Poovamma, Prachi, and Vithya Ramaraj clocked 3:29.69 in the women&#8217;s 4x400m relay to take home the gold \ud83e\udd47\ud83d\udcaa<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcf8: @rvmoorthyhindu <\/p>\n<p>#AsianGames2026 https:\/\/t.co\/VurqN7UhFi<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sportstar (@sportstarweb) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sportstarweb\/status\/2104985624579284994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">September 29, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>Though Vithya is happy to have won bronze in the 400m hurdles at the Games while breaking the National record (54.75s), the athlete and her personal coach, Nehpal Singh, felt she should focus on running sub-54 next.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy coach is not happy with my timing in the 400m hurdles at the Games in Japan. In India, I am not pushed enough&#8230; hence, I am not able to go sub-54. I will work harder and try to achieve the timing my coach has demanded of me,\u201d said Vithya.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the facilities at the cruise ship where the team stayed in Japan, Vithya replied: \u201cI\u2019ve lived in a room with 20 members. We lived like that for six years. There were no reservations during travel for competitions. My coach (Nehpal) said, \u2018Don\u2019t care about anything. Just go and run the race.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In all probability, Vithya will make her debut at the World athletics championships next year in Beijing. \u201cI want Vithya to make it to the final. That\u2019s the target,\u201d said Nehpal.<\/p>\n<p>According to Vithya, the key to her success at the Asian Games was the good sleep she had in Spala (Poland), where she trained prior to the Games. \u201cI slept for 10 hours in those three months. That was what brought my performance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She will be keen to maintain the sleep cycle to achieve higher dreams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"update-publish-time article-published-time-end\">\n<p class=\"publish-time-new\"> Published <span>&#8211; October 07, 2026 08:37 pm IST<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sport\/athletics\/vithya-ramraj-interview-pt-usha-record-400m-hurdles-asian-games-2026\/article71556331.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Colourful haul: Vithya won one each of gold, silver and bronze from Aichi-Nagoya! | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY Vithya Ramraj still cannot understand the hype surrounding her. The 28-year-old, who emerged as one of India\u2019s standout performers at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, returned with three medals and a National record in the 400m [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":266281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6802],"tags":[76675,76681,75234,76688,76680,76687,76679,76684,33287,754,74698,76686,76682,76678,76676,74780,76677,76683,30236,76444,76685,76673,76674,32064,26035],"class_list":{"0":"post-266280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-athetics","8":"tag-400m-hurdles","9":"tag-4x400m-relay-gold","10":"tag-aichi-nagoya-asian-games","11":"tag-asian-games-medallist","12":"tag-athletics-national-record","13":"tag-athletics-training-poland","14":"tag-beijing-2027","15":"tag-chennai-athletics","16":"tag-india-athletics","17":"tag-indian-athletics","18":"tag-indian-track-and-field","19":"tag-indian-women-athletes","20":"tag-mixed-relay-silver","21":"tag-nehpal-singh","22":"tag-pt-usha-record-broken","23":"tag-spala-training-camp","24":"tag-sub-54-target","25":"tag-tamil-nadu-athlete","26":"tag-vithya-ramraj","27":"tag-vithya-ramraj-asian-games","28":"tag-vithya-ramraj-bronze-medal","29":"tag-vithya-ramraj-interview","30":"tag-vithya-ramraj-national-record","31":"tag-womens-400m-hurdles","32":"tag-world-athletics-championships"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}