Following In Her Mother's Footsteps: Olympian Sahana Encourages Pavana To Shine In Senior Events

At a young age of 18, Pavana Nagaraj, the daughter of women’s National High Jump record holder Sahana Kumari and 2010 National Inter-State men’s 100m champion BG Nagaraj, claimed the Asian U20 gold with a personal best Long Jump of 6.32m. This success followed Sahana Kumari's suggestion for Pavana to concentrate more on Long Jump after initially starting out as a high jumper.

The switch to long jump came in during her training as a heptathlete. Sahana Kumari, a coach with SAI, expressed her desire for her daughter to continue competing in multi-event competitions. "We want her to participate in multiple events to ensure her overall development. This is something that this generation lacks. They tend to focus solely on one discipline," she explained to the media.

“I told her rather than stick to one event, she should try the Heptathlon to discover her strength. We want her to excel in multi events and she has to understand which event she is good at. As parents, or as coaches, we are not forcing her to take up any particular discipline. We’re only supporting her so she can enjoy her journey,” Sahana Kumari stated.

Pavana Nagaraj is a Khelo India Scholarship scheme athlete since 2018

Pavana considers her mother as her backbone in her career. “She always accompanies me to competitions, and always backs me. Her support and presence has brought me this far. I don’t think most athletes get to feel this, and I am really blessed. I’ll always be grateful to both my parents for putting me on the right path on the field and off the field,” she said.

Sahana said she is proud too. “As a mother, I’m really happy to have a daughter like Pavana. Seeing your child succeed and realise her dream gives parents a lot of happiness. We want her to excel in the senior competitions as well. And we keep telling her to focus on the senior events, especially the Olympics as the bigger target.

“The main thing is to focus and be dedicated to what you want. The mindset that we give to her sometimes maybe irritates her but later she understands, what my parents say are actually good for me,” Sahana said.

Pavana’s father BG Nagaraj is also an acclaimed sprinter who won the men’s 100m gold in the AFI National Inter-State Championships in Patiala in 2010. He was crowned the fastest man in India back then for recording a time of 10.50 seconds at the 2010 Asian Games trials. He currently works with the Railways.