The Hindu : Sport : Forgettable day for Indian relay team

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Sunday, Sep 02, 2007
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Forgettable day for Indian relay team

Sebrle is the best all-round athlete

OSAKA: The Indian women’s 4x400 metres relay team clocked its worst for the season, finished last among 15 teams in the heats and to compound its misery was disqualified for a lane violation on the penultimate day of the World championships here on Saturday.

For a team being touted as a contender for a medal in the Beijing Olympics next year, by both the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI), this was a pathetic performance by the Indian foursome of Mandeep Kaur, Manjeet Kaur, Chitra Soman and Iylene Samantha.

The Indian team clocked 3:39.55 to finish eighth and last in heat 2, more than five seconds off the seventh-placed Brazil. The U.S. won the heat in a world-leading 3:23.37, while Russia won the other heat in 3:23.49.

Lane violation

After they finished last in the race, the Indian girls found to their further dismay that they have been disqualified for a lane violation. It was not immediately known who had committed the infringement. One of the Indian officials said that Manjeet Kaur had probably stepped into the inside lane at the first bend on the second leg.

The Indian team had recently won the Asian title, clocking 3:33.39 in Amman, but that team included Sini Jose, in place of Samantha. Sini was indisposed weeks before departure though she did make the trip here. All the other teams here had timed better than India coming into the World meet.

Japan, which finished behind India in Amman, clocked a national record of 3:30.17 in taking the sixth place in India’s heat on Saturday.

Superb effort

Meanwhile, Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic confirmed his reputation as the best all-round athlete by winning the decathlon. The 32-year-old Sebrle completed his collection of gold medals when he captured the only major event to have eluded him with a total of 8,676 points, 350 less than the world record he set in 2001.

The results (all finals):

Women: 4x100m relay: 1. United States (Williams, Felix, Barber, Edwards) 41.98s, 2. Jamaica (Brooks, Stewart, Facey, Campbell) 42.01, 3. Belgium (Borlee, Marien, Ouidraogo, Gevaert) 42.75.

5,000m: 1. Meseret Defar (Eth) 14m 57.91s, 2. Vivian Cheruiyot (Ken) 14:58.50, 3. Prisca Jepleting (Ken) 14:59.21.

Men: 4x100m relay: 1. United States 37.78s (Patton, Spearmon, Gay, Dixon), 2. Jamaica 37.89 (Anderson, Bolt, Carter, Powell), 3. Great Britain 37.90 (Malcolm, Pickering, Devonish, Lewis-Francis).

Pole vault: 1. Brad Walker (USA) 5.86m, 2. Romain Mesnil (Fra) 5.86, 3. Danny Ecker (Ger) 5.81. Walker won on a countback.

Decathlon: 1. Roman Sebrle (Cze) 8,676 points; 2. Maurice Smith (Jam) 8,644, 3. Dmitriy Karpov (Kaz) 8,586.

50-km walk: 1. Nathan Deakes (Aus) 3hr 43m 53s, 2. Yohan Dinz (Fra) 3:44:22, 3. Alex Schwazer (Ita) 3:44:38.

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