The Hindu : Anuradha sets National mark

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 27, 2002

Sport

Sport - Athletics

Anuradha sets National mark

By K. P. Mohan

K.M. Beenamol of Railways winning the women's 800m ahead of Madhuri Singh (right) who won the silver in the Raja Bhalendra Singh National athletics circuit meet in New Delhi on Monday. — Photo: V. Sudershan

NEW DELHI AUG. 26. High hurdler Anuradha Biswal's National record and K.M. Beenamol's personal best in the 800 metres were consolations on a day of average performances in the DDA-Raja Bhalendra Singh National Circuit meet at the Nehru Stadium here on Monday.

The lone National record almost went unnoticed till a late announcement by the junior National coach, J.S. Saini, put things in the right perspective.

Anuradha, who has had a poor run in the Asian Grand Prix meets earlier this season, clocked a 13.38s in the 100m hurdles event, bettering her own mark of 13.40 clocked at the Asian championships in Jakarta two years ago.

Even with this National record Anuradha is still some way off the qualifying standard laid down by the Amateur Athletic Federation of India, that of 13.15 seconds. Anuradha has had a rather unimpressive run through the season with a best of 13.59s at the Federation Cup in Chennai as her best. But then came a series of disappointing performances in the Asian Grand Prix circuit. Today's feat, in a three-woman field in which Poonan Bojanna came a distant second in 14.17s, should put the NALCO officer from Bhubaneshwar in with a chance to get the nod for the Asian Games.

No such worries of selection would have crossed Beenamol's mind as she lined up for the 800 metres, for the first time at the National level in three years, with the best of the two-lap runners at home this season. With the prevailing standards in Asian Games being what they are, with no one going below 2:02 this season, it was always on the cards that Beenamol would give the event a try. Perhaps, not with the intention of setting a personal best, though.

The front-running Madhuri Singh set a good pace through the opening lap, started widening the gap at the `bell' and threatened to run away on the backstraight. But that is where Beenamol started making her move. From about 230 metres out, Beenamol had started speeding up and with about 120 metres left she was within reach of Madhuri and Sunita Kumari.

Beenamol easily overtook the others through the home bend and once into the straight, there was an easy finish even as Madhuri strained her sinews in a desperate bid to hold off the rest. C. Latha took the bronze.

Beenamol's 2:02.01 was not only her personal best, it was also the best in Asia this season with Zamira Amirova of Uzbekistan having clocked a 2:02.30 in June. The Kerala and Railway athlete's best earlier in the two-lap event was the 2:04.88 she clocked while winning the SAF Games gold in Kathmandu in 1999.

Since then Beenamol had been running the 800m only occasionally, not in the National-level meets but only at the departmental championships. Monday's performance should put Beenamol in line for selection for both the events for the Busan Asian Games. With the schedule at the Asiad also being favourable, Beenamol has emerged as the front-runner among Indians for two medals from Busan.

In the men's 800 metres, Beenamol's younger brother K.M. Binu also scored a fluent win over P.S. Primesh but his timing of 1:48.38 was not exactly what the coaches and selectors might have been looking for. Binu complained about a painful knee which had been bothering him while he was training abroad.

P. Ramachandran was another man who scored an authoritative victory in the 400m, but in a time of 46.21 secs. In a field which had the best of the one-lappers at home, and with the fight for places in the Busan-bound relay teams hotting up, Paramjeet finished second and Satbir took the bronze.

Jincy Philip won the women's 400m, in which Beenamol was not there, easily holding off Manjima Kuriakose on the straight.

The sprints lacked the sparkle, though there was a new face in the middle of the podium in Sanjay Ghosh. The havildar from Kolkata pipped National record holder Anil Kumar for the first time with a personal best of 10.50s. Anil, who had a poor start had to strain hard during the last 40 metres, but he could just manage the silver with Clifford Joshua taking the bronze.

In the women's sprint, Saraswati Saha won with plenty to spare from Vinita Tripathi and Rachita Mistry, the last two making comebacks after injuries. In fact this was the first race of the season for both Vinita and Rachita.

Also running his first race in more and 18 months was Gulab Chand who won the 3000 metres without much trouble, while the corresponding race in the women's section was also won without fuss by Sunita Rani.

The relay teams could not touch the qualifying standards for the Asian Games. In fact the main men's sprint relay team consisting of Piyush Kumar, Sandeep Sarkaria, Anand Menezes and Anil Kumar lost to the second-string Indian team of Sanjay Ghosh, Amit Saha, Parameshwaran and Clifford Joshua, 39.81 to 41.56. The qualifying mark stands at 39.30.

In the women's 4x100 relay only one team competed with Anuradha Biswal, Vinita Tripathi, Saraswati Saha and Rachita Mistry clocking 44.84 against the qualifying mark of 44.50s.

The results:

Men: 100m: Race `A': Jaspreet Singh (Punjab Police) 10.96; 2. Ramnik Singh (Del) 11.04; 3. B. Rajesh (Rly) 11.12. Race `B': 1. Sanjay Ghosh (SSCB) 10.50s; 2. Anil Kumar (SSCB) 10.54; 3. Clifford Joshua (Kar) 10.58.

400m: Race `A': 1. Jaspreet Singh (P. Pol) 47.69s; 2. Gurvinder Singh (Pun) 48.67; 3. Gurjinder Singh (P. Pol) 48.86. Race `B': 1. P. Ramachandran (TN) 46.21s; 2. Paramjeet Singh (Pol) 46.45; 3. Satbir Singh (SSCB) 46.59.

800m: 1. K.M. Binu (RSPB) 1:48.38; 2. P.S. Primesh (Steel Plants) 1:49.07; 3. T.M. Sajeevan (Pol) 1:50.62.

3000m: 1. Gulab Chand (RSPB) 8:17.13; 2. I.A. Shivananda (RSPB) 8:18.47; 3. Aman Sani (HP) 8:19.24.

Triple jump: 1. Pritpal Singh (Pol) 15.88m; 2. Maha Singh (Rly) 15.29; 3. Sukhjinder Singh (P. Pol) 15.13.

Shot put: 1. Bahadur Singh (P. Pol) 19.46m; 2. Shakti Singh (RSPB) 18.08; 3. Navpreet Singh (P. Pol) 17.60.

Discus: 1. Shakti Singh (RSPB) 55.58m; 2. Harbhajan Singh (P. Pol) 50.97; 3. Amandeep Singh (P. Pol) 50.88.

Hammer: 1. Pramod Tiwari (UP) 66.32; 2. Rakesh Kumar (UP) 63.85; 3. Laiq Ahmed (UP) 61.75.

Javelin: 1. Harminder Singh (Pun) 76.40m; 2. Sunil Goswami (LIC) 73.42; 3. Jagdish Bishnoi (Pol) 72.90.

Women: 100m: 1. Sarswati Saha (RSPB) 11.47s; 2. Vinita Tripathi (LIC) 11.83; 3. Rachita Mistry (Mah) 11.87.

400m: 1. Jincy Philip (Pol) 52.80s; 2. Manjima Kuriakose (Pol) 53.09; 3. Manjeet Kaur (Pun) 53.80.

800m: 1. K.M. Beenamol (RSPB) 2:02.01; 2. Madhuri Singh (PSEB) 2:03.46; 3. C. Latha (RSPB) 2:04.15.

3000m: 1. Sunita Rani (RSPB) 9:12.06; 2. Aruna Devi (RSPB) 9:51.70; 3. Beant Kaur (Pun) 10:03.96.

100m hurdles: 1. Anuradha Biswal (Ori) 13.38s (National record, old 13.40s); 2. Poonam Bojanna (Kar) 14.17; 3. Soma Biswas (Bengal) 14.31.

Discus: 1. Neelam J. Singh (RSPB) 59.44m; 2. Harwant Kaur (Jharkhand) 58.32; 3. Seema Antil (CRPF) 54.53.

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