Alex Antony’s parents were as usual sitting by the sea after a long day’s work and having a chat when they received a call from their son. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had just announced the names for the 26-member Indian contingent for the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo and their son was one among them. A native of the coastal village of Pulluvila in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district, 26-year-old Alex has been selected for the 4x400m mixed relay team.
“Although my parents do not understand sports or what's happening in the field of sports, they were thrilled when I broke the news of my selection,” a brimming Alex tells TNM from Patiala, where he’s attending the Olympics camp along with other Indian athletes at the National Institute of Sports.
The mixed relay team was announced after a series of selection trials conducted by the AFI in Patiala on Sunday, July 4, evening. Although Alex was more or less confident of securing a place in the Olympic contingent, having been a mainstay in the Indian athletics team since 2019, he says that a recent bout of health issues did raise some concerns.
“I was down with food poisoning a few days before the trials and my mind and body were slightly weak. I also felt that I couldn’t perform as expected during the initial stages of the trials but I managed to overcome this and pick myself up,” adds Alex, who has been training in Patiala since 2014, after getting a job in the Indian Air Force through the sports quota.
For Alex, whose father is a fisherman and mother a homemaker, the journey to the Olympics hasn't been smooth sailing. He confesses to TNM that if the school which he attended during class 11 and 12 - PKS Higher Secondary School in Kanjiramkulam, hadn’t provided meals in the morning and evening, he wouldn’t have probably taken part in athletics.
“There were days when my mother used to find it difficult to pack food for me. And on days before tournaments, we used to have training sessions both in the morning and evening. But the coach and faculty at PKS knew that the students came from poor backgrounds and provided food after training sessions which helped me continue with my running,” he recalls.
It was during his days at PKS, under coach Pradeep Kumar, that Alex took to proper track events - namely 100 metres and 200 metres running. His interest in track and field, was honed further after he joined the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Thiruvananthapuram where he managed to receive expert training and guidance under the mentorship of his coach Nishad Kumar. It was also in SAI, that Alex started focussing on 400 metres running.
In 2014, Alex represented India for the first time in a tournament in Goa where he won the Bronze medal. But it was only in 2019, that he cemented his place in the Indian side by taking part in major events like the Asian championship and the World championship for the 4x400m event.
Proud Thiruvananthapuram
With the news of Alex’s selection to the Olympics team breaking, people of Thiruvananthapuram couldn’t hide their excitement with groups and status messages being filled with congratulatory posts for the athlete from Pulluvilla. Among them were Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor; the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Arya Rajendran; MLAs VK Prasanth, G Stephen and M Vincent, of the various constituencies of the state capital.
Wishing Alex success, Tharoor tweeted: “Best wishes to my constituent Alex Antony from coastal Pulluvila in Thiruvananthapuram, off to represent India in the 400 metre race at the Tokyo Olympics. Proud moment!”
Best wishes to my constituent Alex Antony from coastal Pulluvila in Thiruvananthapuram, off to represent lndia in the 400 metre race at the Tokyo Olympics. Proud moment! Best wishes for success Alex! pic.twitter.com/ha3VIm4D8z
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 6, 2021
“This achievement by Alex Antony is a proud moment not just for Trivandrum and the coastal region but for the entire state of Kerala,” Trivandrum Mayor Arya Rajendran wrote on Facebook.
Kovalam MLA M Vincent in his FB post said that the people of Kovalam and Kerala offer their prayers and greetings to “our pride” Alex Antony, “who is moving forward with the determination to win an Olympic medal for India.”
The 4x400m mixed relay team features Sarthak Bhambri, Alex Antony, Revathi Veeramani, Subha Venkatesan and Dhanalakshmi Sekar. The world’s biggest sports extravaganza will begin on July 31 and go on till August 9. Alex and his team will leave for Tokyo on July 23.