Vithya Ramraj still cannot understand the hype surrounding her.

The 28-year-old, who emerged as one of India’s standout performers at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, returned with three medals and a National record in the 400m hurdles, breaking P.T. Usha’s 42-year-old mark.

“In the last Asian Games (2023) in Hangzhou, I won three medals. I don’t know why I became popular this time,” she told select media at a function organised by jewellery brand Tanishq (Anna Nagar) on Wednesday.

She might sound modest, but her performance speaks for itself. She played the anchor role brilliantly to help India win the gold medal in the women’s 4x400m relay, ran a brilliant race to break Usha’s long-standing record in the 400m hurdles (bronze) and did well to guide India to a silver in the 4x400m mixed relay.

Though Vithya is happy to have won bronze in the 400m hurdles at the Games while breaking the National record (54.75s), the athlete and her personal coach, Nehpal Singh, felt she should focus on running sub-54 next.

“My coach is not happy with my timing in the 400m hurdles at the Games in Japan. In India, I am not pushed enough… hence, I am not able to go sub-54. I will work harder and try to achieve the timing my coach has demanded of me,” said Vithya.

When asked about the facilities at the cruise ship where the team stayed in Japan, Vithya replied: “I’ve lived in a room with 20 members. We lived like that for six years. There were no reservations during travel for competitions. My coach (Nehpal) said, ‘Don’t care about anything. Just go and run the race.’”

In all probability, Vithya will make her debut at the World athletics championships next year in Beijing. “I want Vithya to make it to the final. That’s the target,” said Nehpal.

According to Vithya, the key to her success at the Asian Games was the good sleep she had in Spala (Poland), where she trained prior to the Games. “I slept for 10 hours in those three months. That was what brought my performance,” she said.

She will be keen to maintain the sleep cycle to achieve higher dreams.

The country’s top two sprinters, Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh, did not produce impressive finishes in the men’s 100m at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet at the Kalinga Stadium, but both sounded confident ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Kujur, whose personal best of 10.14 came this season, clocked 10.32 to finish sixth, close to the 10.30 he timed in Belgium on August 1. Gurindervir, who broke Kujur’s National record with 10.09 at the Federation meet in Ranchi in May, clocked 10.39, identical to his heats mark at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games last month, to finish ninth on Saturday (August 22, 2026).

Both had different reasons for the modest show.

“I had a very good start. But I thought I slipped in the first two steps and would fall, so I slowed down and had to pick up again,” said Gurindervir.

Gurindervir said the timing was not bad given the workload. “Our preparation is going well. The main target is the Asian Games. We can’t peak so soon. The training load is a bit high. We ran with that load. I, Animesh and everyone else on Friday (August21) and then ran. When we peak, the time will come down automatically,” he added.

Kujur, the 200m national record holder (20.32s, achieved in May 2025), said, “I stumbled a little at 10-15 metres. My balance was affected. Everyone got ahead of me. It’s okay.”

He said the focus is firmly on the Asian Games. “The Athletics Federation of India is taking us to Japan early so we can acclimatise. We have time between the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games to load more. We will deload a bit — there is a Mondo track, which is a fast track. My main focus is 200m.”

Kujur, who exited in the CWG 200m semifinals with 20.65s, said the Glasgow outing taught him a lesson. “It’s not about who is the fastest. It’s about who is best prepared on that day. I don’t target any medal or time. I just execute my race and the timing comes on its own,” he said.