Usha highest placed Indian in world rankings

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 28. At a time when she is tossing around the prospects of her comeback to serious competition, this should be cheerful news for P.T. Usha. The country's best known athlete has gained the highest placing, among Indians, in the first-ever world rankings issued by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF).

In the detailed rankings issued on Tuesday, Usha finds herself at the 560th position in the overall women's chart. K.M. Beenamol, who recently bettered Usha's 400m National record, is 575th and Sunita Rani, the top middle distance runner of the country, is at the 588th position.

There is no Indian who figures in the men's overall rankings.

The IAAF world ranking, different from the world lists released periodically, is an attempt to project individual athletes in better light, apart from being a more reliable index to assess class and form. The world lists simply ranks the athletes according to their performances while the world rankings evaluate them on two basic criteria - result and placing in particular competitions.

Performances are measured against the IAAF scoring tables, points awarded and rankings issued event-wise and overall.

Further, an elaborate points system has been devised to provide weightage to higher-level competitions.

The best five performances of the year preceding the ranking date is taken into consideration. Wind-assisted marks are also considered, but allowance given for marks achieved against head- winds. World records get bonus points.

Guerrouj, Jones head rankings

As already announced, Moroccan miler Hicham el Guerrouj and American sprinter Marion Jones head the overall rankings among men and women.

A total of 14 Indians, including eight women, figure in the ranking lists. The best event-ranking placing for an Indian has been achieved by Shakti Singh among men and Neelam Jaswant Singh among women. Shakti is 34th in shot put and Neelam 38th on the women's discus table. Surprisingly, she has failed to find a place in the overall rankings.

While Usha had been ranked on the basis of her 100m and 200m performances, Beenamol and Sunita have been ranked on the strength of just one event each only, the 400m and 1500m respectively.

Athletes can score points in their main events as well as side events with a minimum of two competitions in their main events being a must. Usha's National mark of 23.25s in the 200m at Lucknow last September, obviously provided her the bulk of the points.

Possibly, the system will have to go through corrections and adjustments before reaching stability. The overall rankings at the moment are 1000-deep while event rankings stretch up to 100 places.

The best ranking for an Asian has gone to woman high hurdler Olga Shishigina of Kazakhstan, who is placed 11th in the overall women's rankings.

Among men, Japanese sprinter Koji Ito is placed 232nd overall.

The best Chinese male athlete is high hurdler Chen Yanho, who is at the 276th slot.

Japanese intermediate hurdler Kazuhiko Yamazaki is 278th.

Among the Sri Lankans, Susanthika Jayasinghe is overall 115th, Sriyani Kulawansa 279th and Damayanthi Darsha 306th.

The following are the Indians who figure in the rankings:

Women's overall: P.T. Usha (560th place, 100m, 200m, 1154.83 points), K.M. Beenamol (575, 400m, 1152.60), Sunita Rani (588, 1500m, 1151.80), Rachita Mistry (894, 100m, 1123.40).

Men's event rankings: Shot put: Shakti Singh (34, 1133.68), Bahadur Singh (51, 1100,92); Hammer: Pramod Tiwari (98, 1010.20); Javelin: Jagdish Bishnoi (54, 1053.60), Ramandeep Singh (68, 1029.20), Satvir Singh (71, 1027.68).

Women's event rankings: 200m: P.T. Usha (84, 1136.44); 400m: K.M. Beenamol (60, 1152.60); 1500m: Sunita Rani (51, 1151.80); Long jump: Anju Markose (61, 1092.40); Discus: Neelam J. Singh (38, 1049.64), Harjeet Kaur ((78, 964.40); Javelin: Gurmeet Kaur (50, 1020.40).

The top 10: men: 1. Hicham el Guerrouj (Morocco), 2. Maurice Greene (U.S.), 3. Michael Johnson (U.S.), 4. Noah Ngeny (Kenya), 5. Wilson Kipketer (Denmark), 6. Maxim Tarassov (Russia), 7. Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia), 8. Bernard Barmasai (Kenya), 9. Ivan Pedroso (Cuba), 10. Benjamin Limo (Kenya).

Women: 1. Marion Jones (U.S.), 2. Gabriela Szabo (Romania), 3. Inger Miller (U.S.), 4. Svetlana Masterkova (Russia), 5. Deon Hemmings (Jamaica), 6. Nezha Bidouane (Morocco), 7. Maria Mutola (Mozambique), 8. Paraskevi Tsiamita (Greece), 9. Zahra Quaziz (Morocco), 10. Glory Alozie (Nigeria).

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Harsh, Sandeep in last four
Next     : Saravanan takes sole lead