The Hindu : Anil Kumar, Saraswathi emerge fastest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 06, 2002

Sport

Sport - Athletics

Anil Kumar, Saraswathi emerge fastest

By Avinash Nair

SSCB's Anil Kumar (second from left), with pain writ large on his face, winning the men's 100m dash in the second domestic circuit meet in Bangalore on Sunday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar

BANGALORE May. 5 Agony, ecstasy and distress — Anil Kumar, the fastest man in India since Gandhinagar Open Nationals in 1997, saw it all on Sunday.

A reluctant starter to the second leg of the Domestic Circuit meet, the Services' ace looked cruising along without a twitch. But at the 80m mark a strain in the left quadriceps saw the `man holding the National record' hobble across to stave off a fast finishing Clifford Joshua to the tape and then crumble on the tracks, in total distress.

The Sree Kanteerava Stadium tracks, which has been a happy haunt for most of the athletes in terms of performance and records, just did not reverberate today. And the floodlights shone brighter than the deeds on the track and field.

Anil was off the blocks in a jiffy and looked like sewing up the race midway through. But then it all seemed to happen. At the 80m mark, the left hip lift seemed to snap and then it was a drag and a hobble as he crossed the tape.

"I'm through. Going home for treatment and recovery,'' was how the 27 year old Naik Subedar in MEG, put his agony across. "I did not come back to competitive athletics till I recovered fully from my chicken pox. And when I come it will be 100 per cent. I could have stopped and not aggravated the injury. But then having come so close I had to complete,'' said Anil.

Saraswathi Saha (nee Dey) made it a creditable double by winning the sprint double. While in the 100m she timed an impressive 11.44 seconds, it was the victory in the 200m that must have given the Railway runner sweeter memories.

Running in lane five, Saraswathi just accelerated towards the curve to leave K.M. Beenamol lagging behind, to finish in a time of 23.68 second. Beenamol clocked 24.07 for the silver while a resurgent Manjith Kaur finished third at 24.37s.

Clifford Joshua and Shakti Singh too had a 1-2 finish. In the absence of Anil Kumar, Clifford, the 25 year old Corporation Bank employee with a late burst pipped Anand Menezes to the tape in a time of 21.02 second. Clifford was done in by Anil Kumar in the shorter race.

Shakti Singh, the burly man of India throws, came second behind Bahadur Singh in the short put but came back strongly in the discuss throw to clinch the top prize.

Anju B. George did Pramila Aiyappa in with her last jump. Trailing the Karnataka girl with a measly 6.1.6 metres to Pramila's 6.26 m, till the last attempt, Anju produced her best touching 6.30m to claim the top honours.

Primesh P.S. of Kerala struggled in the last 30 odd metres but did just enough to stave off MP's H. Patel and RSCB's Tej Karan for the 800m finish.

The top three were awarded Rs. 10,000, Rs. 3000 and Rs. 2000 for their efforts.

The results:

Men: 100m: 1. Anil Kumar P. (SSCB) 10.46s, 2. Clifford Joshua (Kar) 10.47, 3. Anand Menezes (RSCB) 10.54s. 200m: 1. Clifford Joshua (Kar) 21.02s, 2. Anand Menezes (RSCB) 21.10, 3. Ramachandran P. (TN) 21.42; 800m: 1. P.S. Primesh (Ker) 1:51.0s, 2. H. Patel (MP) 1:51.3, 3. Tej Karan (RSCB) 1:51.6. 3000m: Gojan Singh (Pol) 8:37.32s, 2. Kuldeep Kumar (Pol) 8:41.85, 3. Arun D'Souza (RSCB) 8:47.09. Shot put: 1. Bahadur Singh (Pol) 19.48m, 2. Shakti Singh (RSCB) 18.65, 3. Kuldeep Mann (Pol) 17.97. Discus:1. Shakti Singh (RSCB) 56.56m, 2. Hridayanand (Pol) 56.55, 3. Sukbir Singh (Pun) 53.19. Javelin: 1. Jagdish Bishnoi (Pol) 75.75m, 2. Sunil Goswami (LIC) 74.66, 3. B.S. Dubey (LIC) 73.88. Hammer throw: 1. Pramod Kumar Tiwari (U.P.) 64.38m, 2. Ishtiaq Ahmed (Pol) 63.47m, 3. Rakesh Kumar (U.P.) 60.11.

Women: 100m: 1. Saraswathi Saha (RSCB) 11.44s, 2. Poonam Tomar (Del) 11.61, 3. Kavitha Pandey (RSCB) 11.81. 200m: 1. Saraswathi Saha (RSCB) 23.68s, 2. K.M. Beenamol (RSCB) 24.07, 3. Manjith Kaur (Pun) 24.37. 1500m: 1. Geetha Manral (Pol) 4:26.88s, 2. Madhuri A. Singh (PSEB) 4:29.49, 3. Aruna Devi (RSCB) 4:38.68. 100m hurdles: 1. Anuradha Biswal (Ori) 13.75s, 2. Soma Biswas (RSCB) 13.86, 3. Pramila Aiyappa (Kar) 14.05. Long jump: 1. Anju George (TN) 6.30m, 2. Pramila Aiyappa (Kar) 6.26, 3. J.J. Shobha (AP) 6.16. Discus: 1. Neelam J Singh (RSCB) 61.93m, 2. Harwant Kaur (Pun) 60.10, 3. Swaranjit Kaur (Pol) 56.21.

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