Ace long jumper M. Sreeshankar recently said that the Asian Games was ‘bigger than the Olympics’ for Indians because the country collects a lot of medals at the continental event and the athletes receive handsome cash awards for the medals they win.Understandably, the push from athletes to book their spots in the Aichi-Nagoya Asiad-bound squad through the only selection-trials event — the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar last month — was nothing less than spectacular.Staging a surpriseAmid the fall of long-standing National records, the breaking of psychological barriers, and scores of personal bests, two unheralded women — 18-year-old hammer thrower Anushka Yadav and 25-year-old pole vaulter Sindhushree G. — surprised many by recording unexpected National marks and earning the right to make their Asian Games debuts.Their journeys are different, yet interesting.Influenced by her father Sushil, a local-level hammer thrower and farmer from Baleni village in the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, Anushka took to athletics at the age of 12.“My father used to train my younger brother with a hammer. My first choice was the 100m. I did it for six-seven months. Hammer was my father’s choice, which is why I began throwing,” says Anushka, who learnt her first lessons at the Sri Krishna Inter-College ground.Apart from her father’s guidance, Anushka prospered while working alongside other hammer throwers under the tutelage of coaches Chirag Yadav and Gagan Yadav.