Anil Kumar, Saraswati emerge fastest

By K.P. Mohan

LUCKNOW, SEPT. 20. After such a rousing start provided by young Gurpreet Singh on Wednesday, the second day's fare in the 41st National inter-State athletic championships turned out to be a huge letdown at the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College stadium here on Thursday.

Mediocrity was the rule rather than the exception on this long- winding day. And though there was a runaway victory for Anil Kumar in the 100 metres and an impressive win in the women's dash for Saraswati Dey over Kavita Pandya, performances remained well below par.

There never was any doubt about Anil Kumar winning the 100 metres. The question was about the timing that he would return. His 10.44 in the morning heats suggested better things to come. Then he clocked a 10.40s in the semifinal, looking on either side and just easing up past the 85-metre mark.

Was Anil in a position to clock a National record?

``I will try,'' he said as he went towards the starting area. But unfortunately for him and the rest of the field, there was a hold-up of about 10 minutes after the runners had warmed up and was getting down to the business end of the afternoon.

Reason: One of the starting blocks would not hold. That one was in lane 7, where Karnataka's Clifford Joshua was. The blocks had been giving trouble right from the start and it was a familiar sight when other athletes had to support them from behind with their feet. Not for the first time in National-level competitions have we seen such a sight. Perhaps, it is an Indian speciality!

Joshua agreed to let the race get started only after a `grip' in front on the slipping block was replaced. But by then, as Anil Kumar would note later, the runners had ``warmed down.'' Also by then, there was a warning from the officials that the race would be postponed to the next day even as a crowd, comprising officials and athletes, collected near the starting area.

The hold-up did disturb the runners. Anil Kumar was even ready to opt for the faulty starting block since he was keen to get going. ``I just wanted the race to get started. I was prepared to use that block. It would have required nailing it down,'' he said.

The Kerala flag-bearer did start reasonably well and was his characteristic self once past the 50-metre mark, pumping hard, decelerating the least and holding his poise through to the finish. He had more than six metres to spare from the rest who were engaged in the fight for the silver and bronze. For a man running his first competition this season, this was excellent stuff. But the timing of 10.50s was a disappointment.

Alok Saha, better-rated long jumper from Bengal, took the silver while Joshua had the bronze. The Karnataka man said that the block, though imperfect, did not spoil his start, but the hold-up might have caused the damage.

Anil Kumar, on the other hand, was surprised that it was just 10.50. ``I had a feeling I ran better than that. In the semis when I eased up considerably after 85 metres, it was 10.40. Here I did not do that and it comes to 10.50. I can't explain how it could have happened,'' said Anil, who holds the yet-to-be- ratified National mark of 10.21s. The meet record of 10.36s is also in his name, clocked in Chennai last year.

Kavita Pandya had won every domestic meet this season before coming here. Obviously, she was the favourite despite the presence of the more experienced Saraswati Dey in the line-up.

The two were shoulder to shoulder past the 50-metre mark, but Saraswati nosed ahead with about 20 metres to go and won easily. Kavita faded a little towards the finish but managed the silver without trouble since the bronze-winning Poonam Belliappa of Karnataka was well behind. Saraswati clocked her best for the season, a 11.71, while Kavita had a 11.83. She had beaten Saraswati in the Federation Cup at Bangalore after having won the first three domestic meets when the Bengal girl was not in the fray.

Shebin Joseph of Kerala, making his debut at a senior National- level meet, won the 400m hurdles from a modest field and in an ordinary-looking 53.05s. The favourite, K. P. Vishakamani, had gone out in the heats, clipping the ninth hurdle and stumbling over the 10th.

Sankar, Sagini win

Another newcomer, Manipur's H. Sagini Devi, won the women's 5000 metres, though the timings were nothing to get excited about. The corresponding race in the men's section was won by Tamil Nadu's K. Shankar, on some sort of a comeback to winning ways, ahead of the more favoured N. Gojen Singh.

There was a triple tie in the men's high jump at 2.05 metres with Omveer Singh of Rajasthan taking the gold, having cleared that height on his opening attempt. K. R. Roshan of Kerala got the silver since he had cleared it on his second attempt while the man who did so on his final attempt, M. V. Nagendra Prasad, took the bronze. All three failed at 2.08m.

Manisha Dey of Bengal was a clear winner in the women's triple jump, reaching 13.12m on her third attempt. The others failed to touch 13 metres. Manisha duplicated her third- round feat on her sixth jump also. This was the second title of the season for the Bengal girl after the Federation Cup win.

The idea of ``preserving'' some of the top athletes for the now- postponed Afro-Asian Games has left this meet with very little star value. Some of the others were also reportedly nursing injuries. The Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) concerned with the disrupted schedule, following the postponement of the Afro-Asian Games and the National Games, is likely to recommend that some of the top athletes be kept away from the National Games, now scheduled in Punjab in November.

The results:

Men: 100m: 1. Anil Kumar (Ker) 10.50s, 2. Amit Saha (Ben) 10.83, 3. Clifford Joshua (Kar) 10.85; 5000m: 1. K. Shanker (TN) 14:29.22, 2. N. Gojen Singh (Man) 14:33.38, 3. Aman Saini (Jharkhand) 14:42.51; 400m hurdles: 1. Shebin Joseph (Ker) 53.05s, 2. M. Parthasarathi (Bih) 53.49,3. Joseph Abraham (Ker) 53.70.

High jump: 1. Omveer Singh (Raj) 2.05m, 2. K. R. Roshan (Ker) 2.05, 3. M. V. Nagendra Prasad (U.P) 2.05.

Decathlon: 1. Dharam Pal Singh (Har) 6612 pts, 2. Mandip Singh (MP) 6587, 3. Jora Singh (Del) 6468.

4x100m relay: 1. Kerala 41.52s, 2. Delhi 41.67, 3. Tamil Nadu 42.17.

20,000m walk: 1. Gurdev Singh (Pun) 1:32:26, 2. Sita Ram (Raj) 1:33.34, 3. Vijay Gehlot (U.P) 1:35:03.

Women: 100m: 1. Saraswati Dey (Ben) 11.71s, 2. Kavita Pandya (Mah) 11.83, 3. Poonam Belliappa (Kar) 12.27; 5000m: 1. H. Sagini Devi (Man) 17:31.04, 2. Vinita Thakur (HP) 17:34.04, Renuka Hede (Kar) 17:47.79; 400m hurdles: 1. Sapinder Kaur (Pun) 59.10s, 2. Sahebani Oram (Ori) 59.26, 3. Sumona Mondal (Ben) 1:02.10.

Triple jump: 1. Manisha Dey (Ben) 13.12m,2. Kalpana Das (Ben) 12.80, 3. Anisha K. Vijayan (Ker) 12.16.

Discus: 1. Harwant Kaur (Jharkhand) 53.50m, 2. Sugan Yadav (Har) 52.44, 3. Swaranjeet Kaur (Pun) 49.97; Hammer: 1. Phoolpati Jhakar (Har) 52.07m, 2. Rajwinder Kaur (Pun) 48.83, 3. Archana Barar (Bih) 46.73.

4x100m relay: 1. Kerala 47.71s, 2. Bengal 47.76, 3. Karnataka 48.01.

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