Aiming for an Olympic berth

TIME WAS when only a handful of Indian athletes managed to qualify for the Olympics, making the task of the federation and that of the selectors that much easier. Things have changed. Now, the federation is talking about some 20 to 25 athletes making it to the Sydney Olympic Games, no matter that there is a desire to keep the numbers to the minimum. National federations never tire of explaining well-meaning intentions. Putting them into practice is always the difficult part.

Should India be fielding that many athletes in the Olympics, knowing fully well where it stands vis-a-vis the global standards? That is the question that should exercise the minds of the selectors, coaches and the office-bearers of the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) as the 2000 season moves into the second competitive phase with the National circuit meet at Nagercoil today (Saturday). Two more meets will be gone through before some shape is given to the Olympic squad. Quite possibly the exercise might stretch right up to September. But it is time we weighed the pros and cons.

On one side is the need to encourage athletes by giving them specific targets and then selecting them for the big meets after they attain those marks; on the other is the necessity to preserve the country's prestige. ``One more Indian athlete made his exit today in the qualifying stage of the...'' The lines are all too familiar. We have heard them before. We will keep hearing those lines all over again. This is all but inevitable and yet its impact can well be minimised provided there is an attempt to evaluate our standards logically.

The AAFI and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) should try to visualise the possible scenario mentioned above and gauge the four-yearly itch of the public, Parliamentarians and the media (in battering Indian sports) well in advance. Especially since the Union Sports Ministry seems to be more than willing to clear all those who have qualified for the Games.

To ask the IOA to show some kind of restraint will be pointless, given its track record. It had always believed in the axiom `quality comes out of quantity'. The AAFI, at least its Secretary, Mr. Lalit Bhanot, looked to be in favour of a small batch being entered. That was what the federation professed three months ago. One is no longer sure.

The ministry has apparently failed to distinguish the difference between attaining minimum entry standards and earning quota places for the Olympics through pre-determined competitions or a ranking system based on a series of tournaments in the Olympic year.

By coming up with its own suggestion that it would be better to clear all those who make the grade, the ministry has made itself vulnerable to criticism at a later stage. Unlike in the past, it does not have fixed selection criteria to fall back on. It used to be the sixth-place standard of the previous Games. Then, as well as now, even the eighth place mark is beyond the reach of most.

At the moment, we are not, of course, concerned about how the Sports Ministry is going to tackle the issue; we are interested in analysing the composition of the Indian athletics team. Any talk of the meets in July, or for that matter in August, determining the qualifiers for the Olympics will be meaningless.

Most of the front-runners have already qualified and any one who suddenly crops up on the qualifying canvas might not get a look- in even. This is exactly what happened to long jumper Sanjay Kumar Rai prior to the World Championships last year. His sensational 8.00 metres at Bangalore was not good enough to gain him a place in the squad to Seville even though it met the entry standard laid down by the IAAF.

Was the federation right in denying him a chance? There can be a debate. But the point to note is that an out-of-the-blue performance should not get anyone a ticket to Sydney, no matter that an entry standard might have been overhauled by a good margin.

Realistically, the certainties for Sydney should be middle and long distance runner Sunita Rani, shot putter Shakti Singh and discus thrower Neelam Jaswant Singh, if they are able to maintain their form right up to September. All the three have the necessary entry standards and all of them have shown fine improvement during the past season or two, though only one, Sunita Rani, performed with any credit during the Seville World championships last year. Sunita, in fact, has attained qualifying marks in three events, 800m, 1500m and 5000m.

In the next batch of prospective candidates could come long jumpers Sanjay Rai and Anju Markose, discus thrower Anil Kumar and quarter- miler K. M. Beenamol. If a still wider base for selection could be considered, then any one of the relay teams, with the odd member allowed to enter in an individual event if he or she has the minimum standard, could be forwarded. The idea should be to restrict the relay entry to just one, the best, though the temptation would be there to go for more.

Sanjay Rai has the requisite entry standard, though he has been injury prone in the recent past. Anju's 6.59m at Bhopal in February might not stand scrutiny since it was, unfortunately, achieved in a `mixed' competition. She will have to produce a good series of 6.50-plus in the next two months (qualifying mark 6.50m) to be considered for selection. Coming as it did shortly after her marriage to coach Robert Bobby George, she had skipped the trip to Kiev. Both Anju and Bobby were very excited about the prospects of aiming for an Olympic berth before marriage. Hopefully, the keenness should still be there. To be supported with solid performance, of course.

Anil Kumar is still way behind the `B' standard of 62.00m in discus, not to speak of the AAFI's stiffer criterion of 62.80m. Yet, if he has been mentioned here as a possible candidate, it is only because the Telco star is a great optimist and if in mood can come up with anything. The coaches talk highly of him and he is never a quitter. His 59.55 at the Lucknow Federation Cup in March was highly encouraging, but not really up there to be counted for Olympic qualification.

In previous years, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) had never prescribed an entry standard for the relays, either for the Olympics or for the World championships. Now it has. Barring the 40.00s fixed for the men's shorter relay, all of them are well within the reach of the Indian teams. The sprint relay one is the only mark which is better than the Indian national record. On the other hand, something like 3:36.00, listed for the women's 1600m, is quite ordinary by international standards. However, the AAFI is not going to be satisfied with mere entry standards. It has set its own criteria, all of them better than the existing national records, 38.70 and 3:01.50 in the men's section and 43.76s and 3:28.00 in the women's. All of these marks are rather ambitious, no matter that the Indian coaches and foreign experts will hold a different view.

The best option would be to form a men's 4x400m team and enter it in the hope that it would cross at least the first hurdle. But then there does not look any possibility of the team having at least one sub-45 runner plus a couple of sub-46 one-lappers.

That once was the theory being floated towards the end of last season when it was pointed out that even at the junior level in Asia there were runners who could run a lap below 46 seconds. Barring the legendary Milkha Singh and the current National record holder, Paramjeet Singh, who is limping back to some kind of form, there are no Indians in the sub-46 league.

The women's longer relay squad could have been a good combination had Jyotirmoyee Sikdar been around or K. C. Rosakutty and Jincy Philip been in fine touch, with a possible SOS to the undecided P. T. Usha. To expect K. M. Beenamol alone to carry the team forward would be rather foolhardy. Barring Beenamol and Manjima Kuriakose, no one else has come under 54 seconds in two years.

The AAFI had deliberately pegged its qualifying criteria - in most cases the eighth place performance of the Atlanta Olympics - much higher than the IAAF entry standards, to make sure that there was no rush towards Sydney. Yet, it is a moot point whether the federation would be able to stick to those marks (except those in relays) when the selection time comes around. To cite just one example, Beenamol, having recently cracked P. T. Usha's imposing National mark of 51.61s in the 400m, at an international meet in Kiev, will be expected to clock 50.71s to reach the AAFI norm. Almost an impossibility.

Anil Kumar will have to aim for 10.16s in the 100m, P. Ramachandran 44.99s in the 400m, Sanjay Rai 8.08m in long jump, Shakti Singh 20.20m in shot put, Jagdish Bishnoi 82.00m in javelin, Rachita Mistry 11.14s in 100m, P. T. Usha 22.61s in 200m, Sunita Rani 4:07.00 in 1500m, Neelam J. Singh 62.00m in discus and Gurmeet Kaur 61.00m in javelin to meet the AAFI benchmarks.

All these athletes have achieved the entry standards laid down by the IAAF (to be recorded within the period between January 1,1999 and September 11, 2000.) It is a good bet that only one or two may be able to touch the AAFI's selection norms in individual events. Perhaps none at all.

Should someone like Bahadur Prasad or Gulab Chand attempt to reach the qualifying mark in the 5000m, then they can first go for 13:34.00 (`B' standard) or if they both want to enter, then aim 13:29.00 (`A' standard). The AAFI's norm of 13:13:26 (eighth place at Atlanta Games) is nearly 16 seconds faster than Bahadur Prasad's National mark set eight years ago.

In the Indian summer, such a timing can be as good as ruled out. Now, we know how futile it is to talk about a batch of 25 athletes going to Sydney. Unless we are planning to pack the side with relay teams. Or else, the AAFI is prepared to dump its own set of norms to the dust-bin.

K. P. MOHAN

New Delhi

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