Honest Lalit Kumar runs 100m final alone as others flee to evade dope test at Delhi State Championships

Eight runners had officially qualified for the 100m final at the Delhi State Championships. But, on hearing that dope testers had been sent by NADA to take urine samples from the participants, all but one runner skipped the race.

“After I finished the race, there were so many athletes and coaches who congratulated me. They know that I am a clean runner. No matter who wins what in the future. I can always hold my head up high,” says New Delhi-based athlete Lalit Kumar, seen here with his father Om Prakash at last year’s Delhi U20 State championships where he won gold in the 100m. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Lalit Kumar might have taken first place in the men’s 100m at the Delhi State championships but he went home without a gold medal around his neck or an official certificate of victory. On paper there is nothing wrong with it. Official rules state that no medals or certificates are awarded in a race conducted with less than 3 participants. Lalit’s race was conducted with just one – himself.

Eight runners had officially qualified from the heats and semifinals. But in a bizarre turn of events, on hearing that dope testers had been sent by NADA to take urine samples from the participants, every one but Lalit didn’t show up in the morning of the race. “ Kya gazab ka race hai,” jokes a spectator in a video of the one man race that was uploaded to social media on Tuesday evening.

The video was a testament to the seriousness of the problem of doping in Indian sports particularly at the state level. Indeed multiple athletes across other events didn’t show up for their competition either although none of the other races had just the one participant like the 100m did.

The video was also proof of something else. The honesty of that one athlete who decided to compete while knowing he was at a disadvantage.

Lalit had no clue he would be the only one stepping on the track at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

On Monday night, ahead of the final – his first in the senior category – the 20-year-old recalls getting a call from his father who wanted to know how he was feeling. Lalit told his father not to keep his hopes up too high. With a personal best of 11.18 seconds he knew he had no chance to win in the race considering last year the gold medal had been won at 10.92 seconds. “Papa said koi na. Pehli baar khel raha hai. (It’s ok. You are running in the seniors for the first time) I Don’t care about your place. You just do your best,” Lalit says.

It was when he reached the stadium though that he knew that he was going to run by himself. “I had heard that NADA (National Anti doping agency) was going to come to test athletes but it hadn’t happened before so I wasn’t thinking too much about it. But in the morning I saw their officers and I realised that none of my competitors were there,” he says. While he prepared as best as he could in the circumstances, Lalit ran one of the slowest times of his career –11.6 seconds. “It’s strange to run by yourself. You don’t get any pressure. You don’t even know how fast you are going,” he says.

Mixed feelings

Lalit has mixed feelings about the whole situation. “I thought it was both funny and sad. It was funny because I knew that I was going to win. But it was also sad because once I knew that the dope testers had come to the competition, I knew why every other runner was not taking part. There were so many of them who took part in the heats but no one apart from me took part in the final. These guys are my seniors. They are supposed to be role models and this is what they are doing,” he says.

Did he think of skipping the race as well? Lalit almost finds the question funny. “Why wouldn’t I compete? I’ve got nothing to hide. In fact I’ve been hoping dope testers come every year in the past too. I’m really happy that NADA came this year at least. I was very happy when I gave my sample,” he says. While this particular instance was captured on video, Lalit says the problem of doping exists away from the cameras too. “its not that doping exists only in Delhi. I want NADA to go to every state championship in Haryana and Punjab and UP. It’s the same thing

You are just seeing the seniors. But there is so much at the junior levels too,” he says.

All too familiar

Lalit always wanted to be an athlete. Growing up in Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, his father Om Prakash had been a javelin and discus putter but never had much success outside the district level. “It was always his dream that I win a medal at the national championships,” Lalit says.

Lalit with his coach Fareed Alam | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

At every level though he was told he needed that extra help. “Even at the school level I had coaches and seniors tell me samaan lena padega (You have to take steroids),” he says. If he said no then it was largely due to his school coach Fareed Alam and his father Omkar Singh. “ I remember very early in my training, Fareed sir told me that I would almost certainly be advised to dope. He said it would come from people I considered my friends also. He told me no matter what I had to say no. My father also told me the same thing. He had always told me no matter what I had to play fair. I’ve always listened to him,” says Lalit.

It wasn’t just steroids but all short cuts to success that father and coach would say no to. “When I was 16. A lot of people said it would be easy to just get a fake certificate made to say I was under-14. So many people I knew did it. But even then my coach told me I couldn’t do anything like that. He said what will you gain by competing against a boy younger than you. If you want to test yourself, do it against someone of your own age. Fareed sir also said if I cheated some other young player, someone would wrong me the same way in the future and I couldn’t say anything then,” Lalit says. 

At the age group level, Lalit says he felt he had to prove it was possible to win without doping. He looked to be doing that too. He won a silver in the men’s long jump at the CBSE National championships in 2018 and last year he reached the semifinals of the U-20 Federation Cup and won a gold medal in the 100m at the U-20 Delhi state championships. He didn’t cheat even though he knew others were. “At the CBSE nationals I remember there were so many syringes in the bathroom of the hostel players were staying in,” he says. Lalit says he told one of the coaches but nothing came of his complaint. 

Once tempted

When Lalit moved from Jewar to New Delhi in order to train in better facilities at the capital’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, he found a similarly minded coach in Amarjeet Singh. “Amarjeet sir has trained many athletes and has a good reputation. When I joined, the first thing he told me was that if he ever thought that I was taking steroids he would throw me out of the group. I didn’t want that to happen,” he says.

While he still performed while staying natural, there were moments where he had doubts. 

Just when his career was looking to take off, he suffered his most serious blow when he suffered a bout of dengue just before the junior nationals last year. The illness turned back the clock all the way back on his progress. Lalit says it was the closest he came to being tempted to cheat.

“I will be lying if I say I wasn’t tempted. I know how close I was to using that syringe. I was so far behind these other runners I was once faster than. So many seniors told me you are a man now. Ab to lena hi padega. (You have to dope now). But when I told my coach Amarjit Singh, he told me the only way forward was hard work,” Lalit says. 

Amarjeet remembers this. “Ive always made it clear to my students. Others can do whatever. If I find any of my students we’re using steroids they can find someone else to train with. Athletics is like studies. You can’t think of getting quick results,” he says.

Lalit credits Amarjit, Fareed and his father for keeping him on the straight and narrow. “If I haven’t doped it’s because of the values my coaches and father have raised me with. So whenever someone suggests I do, I just say Jo hoga, dekha jayega (what happens will happen),” he says.

It’s not always easy though. Lalit isn’t from a well to do family. His father Om Prakash drives an autorickshaw in Faridabad and his mother works in the families fields. They send him Rs. 4000 a month for his expenses.

When Lalit moved from Jewar to New Delhi in order to train in better facilities at the capital’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, he found a similarly minded coach in Amarjeet Singh. | Photo Credit: Jonathan Selvaraj

Although his share of rent in the tiny two-room flat in Jangpura he shares with 4 other athletes works out to 2500, he is only left with a pittance to manage his expenses. “There’s next to no money for diet, juice or even equipment. A senior gifted a pair of spikes last year after I won the Delhi U-20 gold medal and I am still using those shoes. It’s hard to live like that. There are people who dope and win medals and then get jobs and you think how easy it would be to follow in that line also. I also want to join the defence services through sports but I won’t cheat for that. It’s the wrong thing to do,” he says.

No excuse to cheat

Lalit doesn’t think being poor is an excuse to cheat. “Even when you go shopping and the shopkeeper gives you back extra money, you can’t keep it can you. He is also struggling to make a living. You can’t cheat other people in sport too,” he says. 

Although he doesn’t have much, Lalit says he is getting by. He’s completing his graduation in History from Delhi University. His dream is to join the defence forces through the sports quota. And while he has a long way to go as an athlete, he’s even getting a chance to run at the Para Asian Games in Hangzhou later this year. One of his roommates Hari Om is a blind runner who is representing India in the visibly impaired 100m race and Lalit will be running as his guide in the race.

Lalit is headed to the Para Asian Games in Hangzhou where he will run alongside his roommate Hari Om, who is a blind runner, as his guide. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

While he hopes to guide Hari Om to the podium, he has his own goals as well. “My father always wanted to be a national medallist and that’s one dream I want to fulfil. But I have to do it fast. My dad has said he can support me for another year now that I am a senior. So I have to find a way to manage. There is a lot of pressure on my mind. I hope I can start competing at the national level soon. Otherwise I will try to find work as a coach,” he says.

A senior medal and certificate would certainly come in handy for that. And while sticking to the rule book means he isn’t eligible, Delhi Athletics Association secretary Sandeep Mehta says it makes no sense to deprive Lalit of the medal. “I had a word with the association. It’s not Lalit’s fault that didn’t have any competitor who ran along with him. He has run in the heats fairly. He will get his medal and certificate in the next few days,” Mehta said. Mehta also says the State Association has asked NADA to take the missing runners to task. “I’ve shared the phone numbers of the other runners who skipped their race. NADA can still conduct in-competition tests on them,” he says.

While Lalit certainly hopes he gets his medal, the respect he’s gained is probably worth even more. “After I finished the race, there were so many athletes and coaches who congratulated me. They know that I am a clean runner. No matter who wins what in the future, mai hamesha sar upar rakh sakta hu (I can always hold my head up high),” he says.

And while there are those who might consider his insistence on being clean nothing but foolishness and even call him a sucker for abiding by his own code of honor while no one else does, Lalit isn’t bothered. “Sometimes people in the stadium joke that I’m too honest but it is not something I am ashamed of. The crowd can say what it wants. That’s what a crowd does. Mujhe bhid se nikalna hai. Aur wahi kiya maine (I need to step out of the crowd. That’s what I did) ” he says.