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Time the tempo picked up

By K.P. Mohan

NEW DELHI AUG. 25. The Asian Games hopefuls are back from a month's training stint in Ukraine and Belarus. Obviously they are geared up to put their best foot forward in the final run-up towards the Asian Games in Busan. They should be expected to hit near peak in the two National Circuit meets to be held here and Ludhiana on Monday and Wednesday respectively.

When the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) announced its calendar in March, it was stated that the Open National, to come off here from September 7, would be the `confirmatory trials' for the Asian Games-bound team members.

The AAFI Secretary, Mr. Lalit Bhanot, said on Sunday that though the Open would still be treated as confirmatory trials, the team for the Asian Games would be announced on August 29, a day after the Ludhiana meet.

That is the deadline set by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for submission of entries, by name, to the Busan Asian Games Organising Committee. Though, technically, the AAFI has the option of submitting its final list of entries 15 days prior to the start of the athletics events, it has decided this time to stick to the IOA schedule.

The Open National will thus be a much devalued meet, though participation, barring in a few cases, is to be made compulsory by the AAFI. Those who fail to keep up a standard might lose their places in the team to Busan.

The focus having fully shifted towards the Asian Games after a rather disappointing performance by the a second-string Indian team in the Asian championships in Colombo, the front-runners would be expected to come closer to their best in the next two meets.

Not that there are too many selection knots to be sorted out before the squad for Busan Games is finalised at two meetings, on Monday and Wednesday. The AAFI had gone about the task of selecting the teams for the three major international meets this season in a very careful manner and it is more or less clear about the shape that the final selection for the Asiad will take.

That should not, however, put the top athletes into a complacent mood. For, sustaining their performance-levels, if not improving upon them, should be the deciding factor for the final selection. The performance or the lack of it, at Colombo, might already have clinched the argument against a few athletes by now, notable among them being some of the male throwers.

Rather belatedly, the AAFI has announced a set of qualifying guidelines for selection of the Asiad team, insisting that in most cases these marks were better than the third-place norm even as the IOA has set the fourth-place criteria of the previous Games (or the last Asian championships, whichever is higher).

Mr. Bhanot was also unwilling to commit himself on the standards and their strict adherence saying that these were only guiding marks and a certain amount of flexibility would have to be made in finalising the team.

Much of the attention on the track here on Monday in the DDA-sponsored Raja Bhalendra Singh Circuit meet would be turned towards a few runners who are making comebacks from injuries. The No 1 sprinter and National record holder, Anil Kumar has not competed since suffering an injury in Bangalore on May 5. He sounded cheerful on Sunday, though a he was a little wary about the injury. The qualifying mark is in the 100m is 10.30s, better than his own National record of 10.33s, but then the sprinters will also have a chance of making it through the relay team.

Gulab Chand, out of action for an year and a half because of an thigh muscle injury, will be testing himself out in the 3000 metres on Monday. Being the first meet after such a long gap, the best distance runner of the country was a little concerned, but said that he was focussed on competing in the 5000m and 10,000m in the Asian Games. He does not have the time to look for a qualifying mark, but his reputation coupled with a hint of that old spark either here or at Ludhiana should clinch Gulab a place in the Busan-bound team.

Then there are Rachita Mistry and Vinita Tripathi, also in the list of athletes making comebacks after long lay-offs. Both have not competed this season, but should they come into some kind of form, they could be making the team at least for the sprint relay.

The composition of the relay teams will be the matter uppermost in the minds of the runners competing in the sprints and the quarter-mile, barring of course K. M. Beenamol. The Kerala girl, with Sri Lankan Damayanthi Darsha recovering from a hamstring injury, should be a strong gold medal contender in the 400 metres at Busan.

The places in the men's 4x400m team should be the most hotly-contested, with Paramjeet Singh, P. Ramachandran, K. J. Manojlal, Satbir Singh and Bhupinder Singh all capable of clocking sub-46 timings and a number of others also likely to challenge them. Looking at the number of entries, there should be at least two races in both sections in the 400m here and at Ludhiana.

Encouraging news came the other day on the men's throwing front from Hungary that Anil Kumar had reached a distance of 62.12 metres in discus in an invitation meet at Szombathely for what constitutes a new national record.

Notwithstanding the 64.43 by Qatari Rasheed Al-Dosari at Colombo, where the top Chinese, Wu Tao, was absent, Anil Kumar should be a medal contender in the Asian Games. The question should be the form of the No 2 man in discus, Hridayanand Singh, whose 55.34 for the fifth place in the Asian meet was a disappointment to say the least. He had a 57.55 at home this season and has a personal best of 59.06. He will get two more chances to try and reach around 58.50m.

Men's javelin throw is another event which will come under closer scrutiny here following the below-par performances of Jagdish Bishnoi and Fazal Ansari at Colombo. The qualifying mark of 78.00 might be within the reach of Bishnoi, but more often than not he has failed to perform abroad.

Mr. Bhanot said that those who did not compete even in one single National-level meet this season would not be considered for selection to the Indian team. Anil Kumar and high jumper Bobby Aloysius, the latter now training in Moscow, had been allowed to continue at their foreign bases and join the team at Busan. Long jumper Anju B. George, a bronze medallist at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, has not made it here. In fact there is no long jump event scheduled.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), coming in as an event sponsor for the first time, has contributed Rs. 7.13 lakh for this meet. This includes a prize fund of Rs 5.6 lakh, with the gold winner getting Rs. 20,000, silver Rs. 10,000 and bronze Rs. 5,000. Mr. Divakar Sarkar, Director, Sportrs, DDA, said on Sunday that the Open here next month would also be sponsored by DDA.

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