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Vikas Gowda has always been the strong man doing big things, while growing up in size and stature and notching the long spinning hurls in distant America. On Sunday, the ace discus thrower truly arrived home to India with a stunning season's best of 63.69m in his second sling, to win the hosts a rare track and field CWG silver medal at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.
What should have been a warm homecoming had its share of quibbles, when the 27-year-old chose the opportune moment to voice an old gripe: the country's athletics authorities denying his father-cum-personal coach Shive Gowda a pass and credit as coach, even as Sr Gowda was forced to buy a ticket and cheer on his son from the galleries.
"This has been happening since 2002 World Juniors, and I've been trying to get him acknowledged as my rightful coach, but they refuse to agree. Even my father pleaded with them, but finally he had to go pick a ticket for himself and watch from the stands," Vikas said, dejected with the authorities' stubborn stance on the matter. "It's a super simple matter, and should've been taken care of long ago, but well," he trailed off with a shrug.
On the field though, the 6 foot 9 inch Indian kept himself in the reckoning, with his second attempt while keeping Aussie thrower Benn Harradine on his toes. However the consistent Australian - a role model for many small, rural town boys back home - kept his date with history and with three 64-plus scores on alternate throws was always going to be a tough act to follow.
For the Maryland, USA-reared thrower, this was perhaps the best outing in India, as he came back strongly from the Asian All Star meet with a lacklustre throw of 54-plus. Moreover, the CWG medal signalled his complete return from injury, which had taken a turn for the worse since Beijing back in 2008.
Pivoting in discus puts plenty of pressure on the knees, and Gowda suffered his share of woes. "The knees had gotten really bad, which is when I decided to move to Phoenix, Arizona. But there were many days on uncertainty when I didn't know just how much I could push my knees. That was a tough period," the barrel-chested thrower said, adding that though he'd been consistently managing to propel to 62-63 metres, and had targeted a 65-plus (better his personal best of 64.96), he was satisfied with the season's best.
A tri-colour wrapped around his shoulders after being declared a medallist, as Gowda reached the halfway point of the diameter on his victory lap, he saw a roar go up in the crowd - and die out soon after, realising that the packed stadium was in fact getting behind 800 m runner Sinimole Paulose that moment. A resigned half-smile broke out on his face as he was lapped by the Indian track athlete in the next event and he walked past half the stadium, cutting a brooding hulking figure. Memories of a clapping audience are fickle, and perhaps that's why he was doubly keen that his father - who's seen him through the crests and troughs - the NCAA misses and hits, the 65m grazing effort and the 50s struggle, should accompany him as coach.
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