Latest news with #KrishnaJayasankar
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Sport
- Time of India
India's next track and field stars? Currently in class...in the USA
India's next track and field stars? Currently in the USA M Sudharshan TNN Updated: Jun 21, 2025, 19:53 IST IST The American college sports system has groomed hundreds of Olympic stars. Now, 17 Indian athletes are chasing that same dream on the NCAA circuit Growing up in Chennai, Krishna Jayasankar often faced body shaming for her heavy build. But years later, and thousands of miles away in Nevada, the discus thrower finds herself at the doorstep of stardom — she just became the first Indian female thrower to qualify for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Outdoor Championships final. She didn't win a medal, but competing with some of the best talents of the US college circuit was a step towards her ambition of making the Olympics cut in three years. 'Throughout my journey, I have faced constant negative comments about my size which affected me mentally. Here, people don't judge me for my frame. This has helped me be the best that I can be,' Krishna, a student at the University of Nevada, tells TOI from the US.
Indian Express
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
‘It's a door-opener': Krishna Jayasankar set to become first Indian woman to compete in US Collegiate competition finals
Remembering to speak English slowly and enunciate words clearly during her Fox5 News TV interview was one of the briefs that Krishna Jayasankar received from her American coaches, she recalls with a chuckle. The shot putter and discus thrower is the first Indian woman to qualify for the NCAA Track & Field Championships, currently underway at Eugene. And her breathless vocal motor speed, where she belts out extremely well-thought-out answers on myriad posers at a hip hopper's clip, got coaches including sprint legend and her University of Nevada (UNLV) coach Carmelita Jeter, to offer tips on more than technique and power shifts in her throws. 'They kept telling me, 'Krish, pace yourself when speaking on TV. Talk slowly in interviews,' she says of a breakthrough season, as she worked her way up to NCAA mains qualification, and also became popular on TV networks. 'I was excited to be on TV and the Las Vegas media has always been so supportive to UNLV students. I want to change perceptions. People of my body structure (muscular, throwers) – they don't consider us beautiful. But I advocated for body positivity,' she added. American University track & field athletes tend to gather quite a bit of stardom but being invited to a local network and going national subsequently, meant Krishna gave voice to the lesser-known female throwing ilk and also spoke for athletes of Indian ethnicity. Born to international basketballers Prasanna and Jayasankar Menon in Chennai, the 23-year-old has trained variously at Vijayawada, Jamaica and the University of Texas, but transferred to Nevada, following a previous coach. She also works part-time at the Thomas & Mack Centre, an arena where Sinatra once sang and where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain's points record in Las Vegas. 'I'm a people person and I work customer-facing shifts at the ticketing centre, resolving issues. Vegas has massive events, so it's a lot of work, but I need to. It's challenging — a part-time job, full-time athlete and student,' she says, of what is the reality for many Indian student-athletes, even if on sports scholarships. It helps, though, that she communicates at a fast-clip English speed that boggles many Americans, she laughs. The recent chaos in student and immigration visas has also meant she hasn't returned to India or seen family since last September while working in the fall. Through it all, she navigated a very negative head-space, dealing with injuries and a rough last season, plus the uncertainty of University coaches leaving and new ones joining. 'When I came to the US, as an Indian and a girl who loved throws, the dream was to be at the NC Double A finals. But 2025 has been a worthwhile grind,' she said. Krishna went in ranked No. 45 out of 48 athletes in her division, amongst 25 Universities, and broke the school record set in 1999, on the way, rung in a personal best of 55.61m in the outdoor discus and currently holds an indoor national record in the shot put. She is still some way off the Indian outdoor national records but finished No. 7 in her division and at No. 12 on the US collegiate list. 'It's great to be the first woman out of 1.3 billion and it's a door-opener, but out there I'm out of my comfort zone and getting here took resilience. Knee cap still hurts from the injury, and I take painkillers after every throw. The ankle and calf burn unbearably,' she says. Her move from Texas to Nevada through a transfer portal was particularly rough, and when the coach got fired in 2023 it seemed like one right setback. 'I told myself this is on me, took ownership of my throwing but I was without a coach till the University hired a new one. I went into depressive mode because a lot was at stake. I was used to getting guidance so it was chaos and confusion,' she recalls. Then 'Coach Jet' and Throws coach Jordan Roach arrived. 'She has a different aura, very positive,' she says of Jetter who won the relays Olympics gold and a string of world titles and was considered the fastest American for a decade. '2024 was full of adversity but I was growing,' she says. The 2024 outdoor season was lost to a hand fracture, and her frustration and anxiety peaked. But working with a team of psychologists, lifting coaches, Roach and Jetter, brought her back on track. 'I'm on to proper recovery now. And Throws coach Jordan and strength & conditioning director Jamie Wynn helped me reach elite lifting numbers in the gym where most throws training happens for explosive strength,' she says. The key to gymming in preparation for throws isn't necessarily how heavy she lifts, but the speed – which her coaches joke should be directly proportional to how fast she speaks – very. 'The trick is bar speed, how fast you lift that translates on the field in shotput and discus,' she says. It's where she says brute and beaut converge like she tried explaining on TV.
Time of India
04-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
TN discus thrower Krishna Jayasankar does a first on US soil
Krishna Jayasankar (l) with her coach Jordan Roach CHENNAI: After navigating a series of challenges over the past few years, Krishna Jayasankar has started to reap the rewards of her labour. The 22-year-old Tamil Nadu athlete became the first Indian woman thrower to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She made the cut in discus throw, one of her pet events along with shot put . Following her move to the USA, Krishna was without a coach at the University of Nevada, where she is currently studying. Krishna first competed in the NCAA circuit in 2022 and had to take a break due to injuries before making a comeback last year. The return was not ideal, as she did not achieve the desired outcome. However, Krishna continued to push herself, and the results have began to show. She broke the indoor national record in shot put earlier this year and has recorded multiple personal bests in discus throw. What has made the year more special for Krishna is her qualification to the Outdoor Championships with a personal-best throw of 55.61m in discus throw. 'The reaction when I threw 55.61m was insane. This is my final year competing in the outdoors and I wanted to give it my all. I am happy to have achieved what I did. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dermatologista recomenda: simples truque elimina o fungo facilmente Acabe com o Fungo Undo I wanted to redeem myself after what I went through last year. It takes a village to help an athlete achieve the goals and I am grateful to the coaching staff. I have had a calf injury for the past 12 months, but I am able to manage it and perform,' Krishna told TOI from the USA. 'I told myself that one bad season will not define who I am, rather it will help me develop and learn from the mistakes. If not for the challenges that I faced, I would have breached the 60m mark earlier. I am on the right path and will look to progress at a good pace.' Jordan Roach has been training Krishna for the past few years. Having missed out on qualifying for the NCAA Championships in his college days, Roach wants to see his student achieve what he could not. 'Krishna did a lot of good work in the off-season and it is starting to show now. I knew she could do it and it was just a matter of time. What she has improved is her balance while throwing and she has the capacity to reach 60m in a few years. In the final, we expect to match the personal best and if possible, go another metre further,' Roach said. Multiple Olympic and World Championships medallist Carmelita Jeter, who is the head coach at the University of Nevada, said: 'I have seen so much growth from Krishna over the past year, and I believe that her failures are what changed her attitude.'
New Indian Express
02-06-2025
- Sport
- New Indian Express
Chennai discus thrower Krishna qualifies for NCAA Outdoor C'ships in USA
CHENNAI: IN a first, Chennai's Krishna Jayasankar becomes the first woman from India to qualify for the United States' National Collegiate Athletics Association's (NCAA) Outdoor Championships, set to happen at Eugene, Oregon on June 14. The 22-year old earned qualification with a throw of 55.61metres in the NCAA's west conference's first round of qualifying which took place at Austin, Texas on Saturday. That put her amongst the top 12, which in turn earned her a qualification berth in the collegiate meet in Eugene. She currently is a junior student at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Krishna, who is the daughter of Indian basketball players C Jayasankar Menon and Prasanna Jayasankar, earlier studied at the SBOA school and junior college in Chennai. She had won national-level medals in both shot put and discus throw. After meeting Jamaican track-and-field coach Michael Wessel at Tenvic Sports in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, Krishna moved to Jamaica with him to train, during the lockdown. In 2021, she became the first Indian thrower to be offered an academic and athletic scholarship from the University of Texas at El Paso. In March this year, she set the national record for the indoor shot put, with a throw of 16.03m in the Mountain West Indoor track and field championship in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
