Anil Kumar sets tracks ablaze

By S. Thyagarajan

CHENNAI, OCT. 20. What fascinates an athlete in competitive trim is the enduring mirage of time, distance and height. Yet it is conquering any one of these challenges that a competitor looks forward to in any contest. Quite predictably, this dictum governed the approach of the contestants on the second day of the National Open organised by the Major Ports Sports Control Board at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Saturday. The overall quality might not have been anything above mediocrity, but it cannot be reckoned as arising from want of effort.

None portrayed the essence of a combat with as much elan as the lissome Services star, Anil Kumar, in what is often projected as the glamour item of any meet. Anil Kumar demolished the field in a spectacular start-to-finish run to take the 100- metres with a new time of 10.37s., obliterating his best effort of 10.50s in the meet established at Bhopal in 1999. Anil did not figure last time in the meet in Calcutta where the champion was Sachin Navale with a time of 10.75s.

Anil's sensational time of 10.21s set at Bangalore in the circuit meet is yet to be ratified by the federation. But that dilemma did not preclude him from making another splendid assault on time on Saturday. Drawn on lane four, flanked by Thirugnanadurai of Railways and Clifford Joshua of Karnataka, winner of the event at the recent Inter-State in Lucknow, Anil was the first to react to the gun as he exploded from the blocks. Even as he accelerated showing a clear pair of heels to the rest, the challenge, if that epithet can be used here, came on the right from Anand Menezes in lane seven and Ajay Raj Singh of Police on lane one. Anil Kumar finished in style, a la Maurice Greene, with hand raised signalling victory.

Happy at being back at the helm, Anil Kumar felt the semifinal heats was more demanding than the final. He attributed this to the sultry weather in the morning. He said that in the title race, he had been somewhat strained in the first 50 metres but managed to pick up the rhythm. Understandably, he thought a better time would have done justice to the effort put in.

For Kavitha Pandya of the Railways, the gold in the 100-metres signalled a welcome return to victory mode in a high profile contest. That she conquered the reigning champion, Saraswathi Dey also of Railways, should be viewed as significant. Kavitha has seen a sequence of victories in the domestic circuit but that was broken in the Inter-State meet. Also in the field were two more prominent sprinters, Vinita Tripathi and Anuradha Biswal.

In the early phase it looked as though Saraswathi had the advantage, but nearing the 50 metre mark, Kavitha was in full flow, surging ahead. On lane six, the tall Tamil Nadu girl, V. Jayalakshmi, was also in the thick of it, threatening to take the lead around the 70-metre mark. But nothing could stop Kavitha on this day.

Pleasing display by Gurpreet

The rising stature of Gurpreet Singh as the hurdler of international class-he won the 110 metres on the opening day- received further confirmation by the manner in which he won the 400-metres event. Though Gurpreet's time of 51.8s was outside of the meet record of 50.43s of Sahib Singh, the effort was pleasing to behold. Drawn on lane seven, Gurpreet's main challengers turned out to be Shebin Joseph and compatriot, Visakamani till the seventh hurdle. But at that point, Gurpreet was at the peak of his acceleration, and finished the race with palpable relish.

Gold medallist in the Asian Track and Field at Jakarta last year, Anil Kumar, retained the gold in discus with a throw of 53.51 metres, against his National record of 57.74. Anil started off with 50.93 and hit the best in the fifth throw.

Late in the evening, the Railway quartet of Piyush Pandey, Thirugnanadurai, Anand Menezes and Amit Saha eclipsed the 4 x 100 metres record of 40.65s created in 1998 in Calcutta. The team returned a new time of 40.30s.

Services's Maria Loranse battled it in a heroic fashion to scalp the high jump record of 2.17m set by Chanderpal Ratni of Railways. When he crossed the bar at 2.15m there was expectation that another record might go into history, but Loranse failed at 2.18m. However, this was Loranse's personal best, overhauling the 2.11m he cleared last September in Bareilly.

lThe results: men: 100 metres: 1. Anil Kumar (Ser) (10.37s) (NMR), 2. Anand Menezes (Rlys) (10.59s), 3. Ajayraj Singh (Police) (10.64s).

400 hurdles: 1. Gurpreet Singh (Rlys) (51.8s), 2. K.P. Visakamani (Rlys) (53.4s), 3. Ravindra Mahamuni (Maha) (52.6s).

5000 metres: 1. K. Shankar (TN) (14:22.4), 2. Gojan Singh (Police) (14:28.2), 3. Jagannath (Ser) (14:37.7).

20-km walk: 1. Gurdev Singh (Ser) (1::35:32.4), 2. Sitaram (Ser) (1::35:35.2); 3. Jagga Singh (Pun) (1::43:52.6).

Decathlon: 1. Kulwinder Singh (Ser) 6792 pts, 2. Mandeep Singh (Rlys) 6639, 3. Dharampal Singh (Police) 6575.

High Jump: 1. M. Loranse (Ser) (2.15m), 2. Omveer Singh (Rlys) (2.13m), 3. Arumugam Pillai (Rlys) (2.06m).

Discus throw: 1. Anil Kumar (Har) (53.51m), 2. Hridayanand (Police) (53.03m), 3. Amrit Singh (Pun) (51.42m).

4 x 100 relay: 1. Railways (Piyush Pandey, C. Thirugnanadurai, Anand Menezes, Amit Kumar Shah) (40.30 NMR), 2. Police (41.15s), 3. Services (41.30s).

Women: 100 metres: 1. Kavitha Pandya (Rlys), (11.90s), 2. Saraswathi Dey (Rlys) (11.94s), 3. V. Jayalakshmi (TN) (12.01s).

400 hurdles: 1. Sahebani Oram (Rlys) (59.12s), 2. Babita (U.P.) (1:00.46s), 3. Roselyn Arokiamary (TN) (1:01.29s).

5000 metres: 1. Madhavi Gurnule (LIC) (17:03.75s), 2. Vanita (LIC) (17:20.10s), 3. Pushpa Devi (Police) (17:25.14s).

Hammer throw: 1. Hardeep Kaur (LIC) (58.31m), 2. Rajwinder Kaur (Police) (53.87m), 3. Phool Patti (Police) (48.09m).

Triple jump: 1. Lekha Roy (TN) (12.63m), Kalapana Das (Rlys) (12.56m), 3. Manisha Dey (Rlys) (12.39m).

4 x 100 relay: 1. Railways (Mukti Saha, Saraswathi Dey, Pandeswari, Kavitha Pandya), (46.57s) 2. Tamil Nadu (47.42s), 3. Punjab (48.29s).

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