Sport - Athletics

Inter-State meet from today

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE May 31. Big guns will have a point to prove! In the midst of a busy National and international schedule, the stars will have to prove a point and none should be better off than an - inter-State performance.

The 42nd edition of the national event, sponsored by Kingfisher, is set to get underway at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here from Saturday. Over 600 participants will compete for honours in the three-day event with 22 events scheduled for men and 21 for women.

K.M. Beenamol, who bettered Damayanthi Darasha of Sri Lanka in the 400m at Bangkok in the second Asian Grand Prix, Saraswati Saha in the 100m, K.M. Binu in the men's 800m, I.A. Shivananda in the 3000m and 5000m and Bahadur Singh and Navpreet Singh in the shot put, have all done themselves good in the Asian Grand Prix and will go all out to ensure that the winning formula is stuck to.

The fastest man's tag is an open event in the absence of Anil Kumar of MEG. The fastest Indian since the Gandhinagar Open National in 1997, Anil Kumar will need time to recuperate on his quadriceps injury that he suffered during the second Circuit meet here, which forced him to miss the third at Chennai and the subsequent Asian Grand Prix events.

Sunita Rani's name in the list of participants will also be looked at with unabated enthusiasm. Sunita, the most promising middle distance runner, has been in the injured list for over two years and is expected to make a comeback of sorts with the Federation Cup in Chennai later in June. She would in all probability try her chances in the 1500m and 5000m to test her fitness.

K.N. Binu, the younger sibling of Beenamol, will be looking to ascertain her dominance in the two lap event while Bahadur and Navpreet will vie to top one another in the short put ring, with Shakti Singh posing a problem or two.

Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, the IOA chief and the president of the AAFI, will inaugurate the championship at 10 a.m.

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