Kavinraja, the reigning U20 Federation Cup champion, with his poles at a railway station (right). (Photos by special arrangement) Five Indian athletes — three pole vaulters and two heptathletes — were returning to Salem from Bhubaneswar after competing in the Indian Indoor Open Combined Events and Pole Vault Competition. The 22-hour journey had been uneventful for the first twelve hours. By the time it ended, two of them were on a different train, three were stranded at a railway station in Andhra Pradesh, and all of them had watched their poles fall onto the tracks from a moving train. The group was travelling on two seats due to the reservation rush. They were carrying eight poles — each costing over a lakh of rupees — and had tied them to the window of their reserved sleeper coach after finding insufficient space inside. Usually, athletes keep poles on the ceiling fans inside the compartment, but with the coach full, the window was the only option.…