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Athletics
By Our Special Correspondent
The AAFI Technical Committee, which met here on Wednesday, recommended that records set during the National Circuit Meet in Bangalore on July 5, 2000, be rejected on the ground that no dope tests had been carried out there. However, the performances of these athletes would be allowed to stand as their personal bests. The Executive Council, which met on Thursday, approved the recommendations of the Technical Committee. It also ratified all other records set during 2000 and 2001 barring that by Gurpreet Singh in the 110m hurdles at Lucknow on September 19, 2001. The AAFI secretary, Mr. Lalit Bhanot, said that his federation had sought certain clarifications from the IAAF regarding the timing of Gurbachan Singh Randhawa at the Tokyo Olympics following objections raised by the latter in ratifying the new record of 14.07s. The clarifications mainly pertained to the official timing of 14.0 credited to Randhawa and an automatic timing of 14.09 also listed in the record books. The AAFI also wanted to know whether the timings at the 1964 Olympics were hand-timed or automatic. Shakti Singh, whose 20.60 metres in shot put is not being recognised, will have his 20.42m achieved in Chennai in July, 2000 as the new National mark. As for his 20.60m being listed as the Asian record, Mr. Bhanot said the AAFI would write to the Asian Amateur Athletic Association (AAAA) urging that organisation not to accept Shakti's 20.60m. Likewise, Rachita Mistry whose 11.26s has been rejected, will hold the National mark at 11.38s, the one she clocked at Thiruvananthapuram in August, 2000. Rachita will also hold the 200m record, at 23.10s, clocked at Chennai during the inter-State meet in 2000 following the rejection of Vinita Tripathi's 23.04s. The latest additions to the record lists will mean that P. T. Usha who held the records in the 100m, 200m, 400m and the 400m hurdles for years will now have only the hurdles mark in her name. The 400m record, which Usha held since 1985, at 51.61s, was bettered by K.M. Beenamol with a time of 51.21s at an IAAF Permit meet in Kiev, Ukraine, in June, 2000. That record will officially get into the record books now, though it was considered as ratified till now. Anil Kumar will continue to hold the National mark in the 100m, though not the 10.21s he clocked in Bangalore in 2000 but the 10.33s he timed in Chennai the previous year. The AAFI could not supply a complete list of ratified records even after going through the meetings of the Technical Committee and the Executive Council, but Mr. Bhanot explained that discussions mainly pertained to the marks set in Bangalore in 2000, and those achieved last year including the women's long jump and triple jump marks by Anju George, at 6.74m and 13.61m respectively. All the marks set last year were approved, though the committee missed Karamjeet Kaur's women's pole vault mark of 3.17m set in Lucknow. Her approved National mark stands at 3.25m set during the National Games at Ludhiana. Asian GP circuit The AAFI President, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, who is also the president of the AAAA, announced the launch of the long-awaited Asian Grand Prix circuit. In its inaugural year this year, the Asian GP will kick off from Hyderabad on May 18, move to Bangkok on May 21 and wind up in Manila on May 26. The Hyderabad meet, Mr. Kalmadi said, would be at the new stadium being readied for the National Games later this year. There would be 15 events in each of the GP meets and the top six from Asia, based on the previous year's performance plus two athletes in each event from the host country would be eligible to compete. Mr. Bhanot said that the top six would include athlete from Japan and China. The Asian GP will offer 2000 dollars for the first place, 1000 for the second and 500 for the third place. The AAAA would be funding the prize money in this inaugural year but Mr. Kalmadi said that from next year onwards, host federations would be expected to finance through sponsors. The host unit would be providing air tickets for participants apart from managing other expenses for the meet. The AAFI has constituted two separate selection committees for senior and juniors, bringing in a horde of internationals. Mr. Kalmadi will head both the panels and both will have the chief coaches for the seniors and juniors, Bahadur Singh and J.S. Saini, respectively, as permanent invitees. Mr Bhanot will be the convenor. The senior selection committee will have P.T. Usha, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, Sriram Singh, Shiny Wilson, Praveen Kumar, Charles Borromeo, Adille Sumariwala and Iswar Singh as its members. The junior committee will have Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, Bahadur Prasad, S.D. Eashan, Mercy Kuttan, Praveen Jolly, Vandana Rao and Srirupa Banerjee as members. Several monitoring committees, with former athletes as members, have also been formed to assess the performance of the athletes, especially in the National camps. The AAFI proposes to hold National inter-district meets from next year in the under-14, under-16 and under-18 (boys and girls) categories. Three more foreign coaches, for hammer throw, combined events and horizontal jumps, have been engaged in preparation of the athletes for the important international competitions this year, including the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the Asian championships. Four foreign coaches have already been working at the camps.
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