Thowfeeq Noushad clocked his personal best in 1500m at the Inter State Athletics Championship to qualify for the Asian Games 2026. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

On January 1, 2026, Thowfeeq Noushad wrote down on the first page of his training diary his goal for the year: Asian Games 2026. This journey begins here. Every page is preparation for the Asian Games. On every subsequent page, the 23-year-old Thowfeeq would write down what he had done and what he had learned that day.

The entry for June 25, should read “Qualified for Asian Games” and in the learning section should be the word “resilience”.

He will probably get to it soon. A day after the conclusion of the men’s decathlon at the Inter State Athletics Championships, Thowfeeq was still lying in his hotel bed in Bhubaneswar. “I am still really tired,” he tells Sportstar wearily. If Thowfeeq is tired now, he was nearly out on his feet on Thursday night, when he trudged out in the Kalinga Stadium for the men’s 1500 – the final event of the men’s decathlon.

With 10 separate events contested over two days of competition, the decathlon is considered the most gruelling competition in track and field. The sweltering high humidity of Bhubaneswar only added to the challenge.

In most circumstances decathletes rarely push themselves in the 1500m. Thowfeeq too hadn’t improved on his best in that event in over two years. But with Asian Games qualification on the line, it was in these conditions that Thowfeeq had to run the race of his life. “I told myself I can be tired tomorrow. Now I have to push myself,” he says.

He would do just that, clocking a 7-second personal best -- 4:37.23 -- in the event to finish with 7276 points, just inside the qualification standard (7250) for the Asian Games in Nagoya.

No recovery

In ideal circumstances, Thowfeeq wouldn’t even be competing in Bhubaneswar.

Less than a month ago, he had competed in the men’s decathlon at the Federation Cup in Ranchi. He had taken silver there with 7530 points, a massive new personal best, that placed him third in the Indian all-time list in the event. Despite that effort, Thowfeeq had fallen short of the qualification mark set by the AFI for selection to the Commonwealth Games. If he had to qualify for the Asian Games, Thowfeeq would have to score 7250 points at the Inter State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar.

“You normally need at least one month to simply recover completely from the stresses of competing in a decathlon, leave alone having the time to prepare for another,” says his coach Boobalan Kumar.

Although Indian national record holder Tejaswin Shankar was exempted from competing in Bhubaneswar, Thowfeeq had little choice. “In one month, it’s so hard to do two decathlons. After the Federation Cup, I had stiffness in my back. But I knew this was the only way I could go through. I knew I had to do my best. I wanted to prove myself,” he says.

And he did.

Growing up in the beach front village of Mananchery in Kerala’s Alappuzha, none of Thowfeeq’s family members had any athletics background. He says he always knew he wanted to be an athlete. “I used to collect newspapers and cut out the pictures of Usain Bolt and paste it into a notebook I had,” he says.

His father Noushad, who worked as a helper in a scrap shop and later at a butchery encouraged him. “He was happy with whatever I did. He only made 300 or 400 rupees a day but whenever I needed spikes or training gear, he would find a way to get them for me,” says Thowfeeq.

Hoping to find a place to train, Thowfeeq approached the Kollam Sports Hostel. After being rejected two years in a row, he was lucky a third time around and was picked through selection trials to join the hostel when he was in class 9.

It was in Kollam that Thowfeeq met coach Boobalan, who he’s trained with ever since. Originally wanting to be a sprinter like the role model whose pictures he would cut out and paste in his notebook, it was Thowfeeq’s coach who pushed him towards the multi event.

He wasn’t a breakout talent – his first medal was a bronze in the pentathlon at the 2019 Kerala Under-16 state championships. His progress was slow but systematic. In 2022, he finished sixth in the Junior nationals with 5762 points, improved to 6430 at the Inter district championships in Kerala and then once again to 6521 at the Kerala Junior Championships a couple of months later. The next year, he came fourth at the senior Federation Cup with 6653 points before winning his first senior medal – bronze at the National Games in Goa with 6755 points.

It was at the National Games that Thowfeeq says that he started believing he had the potential to be an elite athlete. “At the national Games, (National record holder) Tejaswin (Shankar) had won gold. He came up to me and said that if I continue to train systematically, I should be a part of the next Asian Games. At that time, I felt I was so far away from that goal but if a champion like Tejaswin could believe I had the ability, then maybe it was actually true,” he says.

Growing self belief

He’d continue to work towards that goal even while improving in domestic competition. Gold at the 2024 National championships with 7042 points – his first time crossing the 7000-point barrier -- was followed by another title at the 2025 National Games.

It was the Asian Games in his sights though. At the 2026 Federation Cup in Ranchi, he made personal bests in eight separate events to record 7530 points. It was a total that Tejaswin – who breached the 8000 point barrier in the same competition – took note of. “He asked me if I remembered what he had told me in Goa. Then he told me he’d see me in Japan very soon!,” recalls Towfeeq.

As he looked to do just that in Bhubaneswar, Thowfeeq knew the odds were stacked against him. He simply hadn’t recovered from the exertion of the Federation Cup in Ranchi. Early hopes of improving on his total from the Federation Cup evaporated quickly in the sultry Bhubaneswar heat.

The goal shifted simply to meeting the qualification standard. But that proved to be hard as well. He performed below his personal best in seven events – the 100m, long jump, shot put, 400m, 110m hurdles, discus and javelin – and only equalled his best in two – the high jump and pole vault.

“The javelin throw is a strong event for me but after I had an average competition (he threw four meters short of his personal best), I knew I was in trouble. My coach also said ‘it’s now or never. You have to show everyone what you are capable of,” he recalls.

After subtracting how many points he had scored (6578) from the qualifying standard (7250), Thowfeeq understood he needed to score 672 or run inside 4.41.40 in the 1500m. His personal best was 4.44.87 while his best this season was just 4.54.17.

When the starter’s pistol went off though, Thowfeeq kicked off and quickly went into the lead. Friends and his coach stationed at various points outside the track kept shouting encouragement to make sure he didn’t let up the pace. He wouldn’t. As he crossed the finish line, Thowfeeq knew he had accomplished what he had come for.

While he’s glad he’s qualified for the Asian Games, Thowfeeq knows he can do much more. “I know that the fourth-place finisher at the last Asian Games got 7500 points. But I know that I’m capable of doing 7600 and even 7700 in Japan,” he says.

At 180cm and weighing only 72kg, Thowfeeq is undersized for a decathlete who on average are at least a couple of inches and nearly half a dozen kilos heavier. “I need to get more muscle. Right now, I really struggle with the discus and shot put because I’m really small. But I know when I add more muscle mass, I can get much better scores in those events,” he says.

Strength increases will come with time. In Bhubaneswar, he’s gained something else. “The conditions here were really hard. I know that if I can push myself over here and run a personal best when I’m so tired in the 1500m, then I have something special in me. I know how much more willpower I have,” he says.

Indeed, Thowfeeq believes he hasn’t filled in his last page in his diary just yet. There will be bigger goals to jot down. That’s for later though. “For now, I just want to rest,” he says.  

Published on Jun 26, 2026