The reigning champion in javelin, discus, shot-put and long jump is hungry for winning the next Masters Championship
It was on a rainy day that I met the athlete, K.A. Ashokan in Thiruvananthapuram. Heavy rain in the morning had made the 92-year-old man allow a change in his daily routine. Instead of travelling 4km to the Central Stadium in the city for his daily run, he was content doing push-ups, stretches and jogging at his house in Karamana.
Not fully content, though, because he could not meet his friends: young boys and girls who train with him at the stadium every day. “I do not want to interact too much with people older than 30,” he said. “People past that age have only complaints. Who wants to listen to these complaints? Interaction with young people will keep you young. I do not want to miss it for even a day.”
Ashokan always has a smile on his face. He has been winning medals at the National Masters Athletics Championships for four decades. The championship is for people above the age of 35. In the last championship at Cuddalore in May, he won the gold in shot-put, discus throw, javelin throw and long jump.
He has stayed strong and healthy, he said, thanks to his daily practice, regular meals, and a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. He wakes up at 5am and leaves for the stadium in 30 minutes. “Either I take an auto-rickshaw or my son drops me at the stadium,” he said. He stopped riding his Kinetic Honda a few years before he turned 90; his driving licence was cancelled when he was 85.
After returning from the stadium, he pokes around in his garden, reads four newspapers, watches games on television and works on files sent by the Kerala and national masters athletics federations. He is one of their office bearers. Whenever he travels for championships or for the federations’ work, he travels alone.
Ashokan was born at Cherai on the Vypin island near the port of Kochi. “When I was a child, islands in Vypin did not even have proper roads,” he said. Vypin is one of the most densely populated places in Kerala. “There was no space there to build playgrounds,” he said. “So, the youth of Vypin were all into volleyball, which required only a little space. I started as a ballboy for them. Soon I was playing along with them.”
His family did not encourage him; they did not see any value in sports. “I was caned for spending time playing,” he said. “But that could not stop me.”
Raising the Union Jack every day was customary at his school in Cherai. Swept away by nationalist and communist influence, Ashokan and his friends opposed the flag-raising during the World War II and were dismissed from school. He enrolled in another school at Kodungalloor and, after matriculation, set his eyes on joining the Royal Navy. He was fascinated by the warships that sailed close to Kochi and the islands.
“I wanted an active and adventurous life, and joined the Royal Navy in 1946,” he said. “The Navy sent me to Belfast for training. And, sports and fitness became part of my routine.”
Once back in India, Ashokan was assigned a clerical post in the Indian Navy. “So I had ample time to play volleyball,” he said. “I was drafted to the Navy’s volleyball team. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was the sports minister. She started a volleyball coaching scheme in India and brought Russian coaches. Since I was good at strategies, I was sent for training as a coach. Thus I became a coach-cum-player, and then the permanent coach of the Navy team.”
He was active, at the same time, in athletics, too. “I used to participate in pole-vault, long jump and triple jump. I was fascinated by pole-vault at a young age, as a senior in school, Vandi Damodaran, used to vault with style. But it was in triple jump that I represented the Services in the National Games and won the gold in 1955.”
Ashokan retired from the Navy as a petty officer in 1965 and immediately found a job in the Accountant General’s Office in Thiruvananthapuram. He built and coached AG’s Office volleyball team, which won several championships during 1965-68. He was, however, dismissed from AG’s Office after he participated in a nationwide agitation demanding need-based minimum wages in 1968. Though he was reinstated later, the dismissal put an end to his association with the AG’s Office team. He did not leave volleyball. He officiated as a referee for many matches in different parts of India, including the India-France friendlies held in 1970.
As the National Masters Athletics Championship was launched in 1984 under the leadership of legendary sprinter Milkha Singh, Ashokan made a comeback to athletics. Triple jump and pole-vault remained his favourite items. “I won medals in all National Masters Championships, except in 1984,” he said. He has represented India in two world championships, four Asian championships and two international championships.
“In the 1984 National Masters, something funny happened,” he said. “The championship rule was that we use only a fibre pole for the pole-vault. I had never used a fibre pole until then. I tried to vault using the fibre pole they provided—I came up short, hung on and fell back on the ground. Luckily, there was no major injury.”
“Once you cross 75, you are not allowed to participate in triple jump or pole-vault,” he said. “So, as I became a super-senior, I left my favourite items and shifted to shot-put, discus, javelin and long jump.”
No lifestyle disease has troubled him, even though he was a smoker till the age of 62. “I started smoking during my days in the Navy,” he said. “I decided to kick the habit 30 years ago and I did it right away. I felt some difficulty in the first month, but I did not touch a single cigarette after I decided to stop.”
From cigarettes, he moved to yoga and breathing exercises, which are still going strong. He generally avoids eating meat. “I do not follow any extreme diet regime,” he said. “But I prefer not to eat out. I take more fruits while travelling.”
Two years ago, at age 90, he was in hospital “for the first time” in his life. “There was a discolouration on my tongue, and a doctor said it might lead to cancer. So, a portion of my tongue was surgically removed. Some of my teeth were also removed. I spent five days in hospital.”
After the surgery, it did not take much time for him to get back to his athletics life. The shelf in his office room at home is filled with his medals and trophies, but the hunger for winning has not diminished. Though he has little competition in his age bracket, he is preparing hard for the next fight, because he knows that this fight is with his own age.