Same old story for Indians

By Our Special Correspondent

EDMONTON, AUG. 9. As has become the pattern, the Indians bring up the rear in major international competitions. On Thursday, at the World Championships here, two of the top Indian stars ended up at the bottom, leaving one wondering why we take the trouble at all of participating in such meets.

Neelam Jaswant Singh's best in the discus qualification was 56.52 that gave her the 10th place out of 11 competitors in her group and an overall 19th placing out of 22 contestants.

Neelam felt that the preparations had been to achieve these levels only this season. She had crossed 58 metres on a couple of occasions including in meets abroad this year. Had she reached as much as her National mark of 63.02, set last year in Thiruvananthapuram, she would have easily made the final.

Neelam had thrown marginally better at Seville two years ago in the previous edition of the World Championships, though the end result was the same. She had then reached 57.05 to be 27th out of 30 competitors.

The other Indian competitor to go through with his routine on Thursday was long jumper Sanjay Kumar Rai. The Allahabad jumper with three eight-metre efforts under his belt so far had this series: 7.12, 7.24, foul. Had someone just mentioned this series without naming Rai or the competition, one would have guessed that it was a junior meet back home.

Rai did not take off on his last jump after having firmly planted his foot, well away from the danger-line. One recalled that he had fouled his opening jump and passed the next two in the qualification round of the Sydney Olympics.

Rai finished 13th out of 14 jumpers in his group and 26th out of 27 overall. Actually, the one man behind him, Romanian Tarus Bogdan, was credited with a 4.01, probably a near run-through that was measured or an aborted attempt.

Here, on previous days, K.M. Beenamol, though she managed to make the semifinals of the 400m, had finished last while heptathlete Pramila Ganapathy had also finished at the bottom.

What really goes wrong with Indian competitors at major global- level competitions abroad where others strive for national marks and personal bests? How long can we cling onto the excuse of lack of exposure, lack of facilities and lack of incentives, when crores are being spent?

In the present case, an argument has been mooted by the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) that most of our athletes were preparing themselves for the Afro-Asian Games and hence opted out of the trip here. To prepare for a meet, three months away, you don't skip World-level meets.

If athletics is all about producing one good jump or one good throw once or twice in a year at home, most conveniently in a high-sounding meet like the Afro-Asian Games, no matter what the opposition would be, Indian athletics should be allowed to live in its dream world.

If, otherwise, the Union Sports Ministry, especially its Minister, Ms. Uma Bharti feels that it is time to find out what exactly is wrong before we commit more public money into such futile training-cum-competition programme in Ukraine and such places, then the Government should be able to gather independent, expert opinion.

The same old yarn of keeping everything in reserve for one big burst in the Afro-Asian Games or the `peak' having come and gone before an Olympic Games will not wash.

How long can we fool ourselves? That is the question that the Sports Ministry has to answer.

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