This story is from November 25, 2015

A marathon effort to mentor city athletes

Despite the odds of limited finances and an ill-developed infrastructure, Sanjay alias Bhau Kane has created world-class long-distance runners from Nagpur. At 66-year-old, his passion keeps him going
A marathon effort to mentor city athletes
Nagpur: The history of Nagpur athletics is incomplete without the mention of Sanjay Kane, popularly known as Bhau. Respect comes naturally from everyone for him for his tireless work, sacrifices, discipline and passion to produce champions.
It is this never-say-die attitude which saw him produce more than 15 international athletes from the city in the last 30 years.
Bhau’s achievements can be gauged from the fact that he has done this with minimal facilities and resources. There is not a single synthetic track in Nagpur. The cinder tracks in Nagpur are not in ideal condition either.
Much like the athletes he has mentored, Bhau didn’t stop at the hurdles; he surmounted them. The results are there for everyone to see. His trainees were not only national champions but also excelled at the international level and brought glory to the region. His followers say his passion was all-consuming, so much so that he decided to remain a bachelor for life.
Bhau’s series of producing champion athletes started with Charulata Naigaonkar. The saga continued with Bhoyar sisters — Rashmi and Aparna — and then Gurnule sisters — Madhuri, Rashmi and Swati. All these athletes represented India in various cross-country and marathon events. Bhau’s forte was long distance running. Instead of concentrating on sprints or mile run, he always focused on distances of 5km or above.
“There is no synthetic track in Nagpur. How can I produce sprinters,” he asked many times.
“For long distance running, it is not necessary to train on synthetic tracks. Running on road or ground is also sufficient. Fitness and endurance are key elements. I always bank upon them,” said Bhau.
The 66-year-old used to play kho-kho and kabaddi during hey day. He was the founder member of Nav Maharashtra Krida Mandal, which celebrated its 40th anniversary few years ago. His early association with kho-kho and kabaddi helped him in athletics coaching. The agility and high fitness level on which kho-kho and kabaddi helped Bhau in guiding budding athletes.

“I am not satisfied with the support of government. They could have easily put at least one synthetic track in Nagpur. The region’s talented athletes were deprived of this basic facility. I just hope that at least the future generation of the region will get the chance to run on synthetic track. We could have achieved more glory if we had better infrastructure,” said Bhau, a Dadoji Konddev Award winner.
After the passing away of his elder brother, he had left the city for a couple of years. However, the love of athletics brought him back to the ground yet again. His mission is simple: To produce champion athletes from the region and he is willing to give his all to realize his dream.
There are many other aspects to his life as well. He used to teach commerce free of cost to thousands of students after his graduation. He was so popular as commerce teacher that he used to take several batches during the day at his Mahal residence. Many of his students are at the top positions in various sectors.
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