[Sport] Muhammed Hanan, 17-year-old hurdler from Malappuram, is third in world rankings

[Mr.Talha]

 

It is yet to sink in for Muhammed Hanan V. The 17-year-old Malappuram lad has suddenly become the toast of Tirur town by entering the world rankings released by World Athletics this month.

Hanan, running with borrowed spikes in the South Zone Junior Athletics Championship at the Calicut University stadium on February 26, clocked 13.80s while winning the 110m hurdles gold in the boys’ under-18 category.

That timing is currently third-best in the world as per the latest world ranking. What is remarkable is that Hanan hardly has any training on the synthetic track. He trains mostly on the tiled footpath and in the bylanes of where his modest house Vellachailil is situated in Tirur. And once in a while he trains on the nearby beach.

“It’s Ramadan. So I get more time to sleep and I was dreaming of competing in the Olympics. The feeling is yet to sink and I can hardly believe that I’m in the top three of World rankings,” Hanan told indianexpress.com on Wednesday. Russian athletes took the first two spots while a German and Jamaican completed the top five. Sarthak Sadashiv and Shubam Singh are the two Indians who figure in the World rankings at 37th and 52nd places.