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Athletics

How the son of a driver, Muhammed Hanan, became World Number 3 in athletics?

Hanan’s climb to number 3 in the world rankings is a result of his brilliant show at the South Zone Junior Athletics Meet held at the Calicut University in February 2021.

Muhammad Hanan
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Muhammad Hanan 

By

Abhijit Nair

Published: 19 May 2021 6:43 AM GMT

Seldom do we see an Indian climb to the top 3 in the World Athletics Ranking. So, when a young boy from Kerala did exactly that last week, sports fans in the country were left awestruck.

Hailing from the costal-town of Tanur in Malappuram district, Muhammed Hanan is just 17-years-old. The youngster rose to World Number 3 in 110m U-18 hurdles in the latest rankings published by World Athletics.

Hanan's climb to number 3 in the world rankings is a result of his brilliant show at the South Zone Junior Athletics Meet held at the Calicut University in February 2021. He not only grabbed a gold medal but clocked a timing of 13.80 seconds, putting him with the best in the world in the U-18 category. The list is led by two South Africans, Michael De Beer and Ismail Mujaahid with the timing of 13.55 seconds and 13.79 seconds respectively.

Born to a Kareem V – a house driver in Abu Dhabi and a homemaker Noorjehan, Hanan is the third child in the family. He took up athletics quite early in his life after being inspired by his elder brothers, both of who are state-level hurdlers.

In fact, Hanan is trained by his eldest brother Muhammed Harshad – a former state-level hurdle champion. The brothers started of their career by running in the bylanes and beaches of Tanur.

Having realised his younger brother's potential, Harshad started guiding him and they slowly started training in the synthetic tracks of Rajiv Gandhi Municipal Stadium in Tirur around two years back.

Such is their passion for the sport that the brothers travel around 12 kilometers daily to train. Hanan does own his own running spikes but does not have his own starting blocks. The hurdles he uses to train at the stadium are old and worn out as well.

But, there has been no looking back Hanan since he started training at the Rajiv Gandhi Municipal Stadium. He was even named the National champion during the National Junior Meet held at Guwahati earlier this year.

Thanks to his consistent show in the tracks, Hanan has been offered a job in the Indian Army's Madras Regimental. The youngster is currently waiting for his grade 12th board exams to take place, which would make him eligible to join the Regiment in Wellington, Tamil Nadu.

This is just a start for Muhammed Hanan, but the brothers already have their eyes firmly set on the 2024 Paris Olympics.




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