Wednesday, Aug 28, 2002
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Athletics
By K.P. Mohan
If the Bhalendra Singh meet in Delhi on Monday proved a disappointment by and large, barring the odd sparkle provided by the likes of K. M. Beenamol and Anuradha Biswal, an encore here will add to the selection worries the AAFI should now be having in finalising its Busan Games squad. No one should look at one or two final build-up meets as some sort of elimination trials for those aspiring to make it to Busan. Nor should cold figures dictate the final selection when the AAFI Selection Committee meets here on Wednesday night before the announcement of the team on Thursday. There are a few athletes who are marginally off the mark and who should get into the final list and a few others who were late starters and would deserve a sympathetic consideration. To give just one example, Gulab Chand, who battled with a thigh muscle injury all alone in Lucknow, without any official support for nearly two years before running his first race of the season on Monday in Delhi. Gulab was a revelation for many of the reputed Asian runners at Fukuoka and Bangkok in 1998. At 30, he might just be on his way out, but in distance running there can still be some way to go if one can keep away from injuries, as the 36-year-old Qatari Ahmed Ibrahim Warsama or the 32-year-old Japanese Toshinari Takaoka will vouch for. Warsama recently won the Asian title in the 10,000 metres while Takaoka is the holder of both the distance records in Asia, and is still very active. However, the argument should not be stretched beyond a point nor should an attempt be made to carry `passengers' in the team to Busan. The prevailing standards in Asia, the indications available at the Asian championships in Colombo and an athlete's own recent achievements at the international level should be the principal guiding factors for the AAFI. Having announced a criteria that is a replica of the third-place norm of the previous Games (or the last Asian championships, whichever is higher) barring in a few of the stronger events for India, where tougher marks have been listed, the AAFI should not make large-scale exemptions now to fall in line with the Indian Olympic Association's fourth-place standard. The 17 athletes who have made the grade so far (not counting those who might have met the norm as the third athlete in a particular event) are: Men: Anand Menezes (200m), P. Ramachandran (400m), Kuldeep Kumar (1500m), Shakti Singh and Bahadur Singh (shot put) and Anil Kumar (discus). Women: K. M. Beenamol (400m and 800m), Jincy Philip (400m), Madhuri A. Singh (800m), Sunita Rani (1500m), Bobby Aloysius (high jump), Anju B. George (long jump), Neelam J. Singh and Harwant Kaur (discus), Hardeep Kaur (hammer) and Soma Biswas and J. J. Shobha (heptathlon.) Should the selection committee be on the look-out for more than two athletes in any particular event for a wider choice (only two are allowed to be fielded), it will have some room at least in the women's 800 metres where Tamil Nadu's C. Latha joined Beenamol and Madhuri Singh on Monday in reaching the standard and women's discus where Seema Antil has a 58.63 as against the qualifying mark of 58.00. In fact, at the time when Seema won the bronze at the World junior championships in Kingston, Jamaica, it was clearly felt that she would be the No. 2 choice behind Neelam J. Singh. But now, after Harwant won the silver at the Colombo Asian meet, though with a below-par 57.60 in a field that did not have the top Chinese, and considering Seema's 54.53 in Delhi (Harwant 58.32) it is to be seen how the balance swings. Obviously keeping Harwant out will be next to impossible. Those in the marginal category are: Bhupinder Singh (45.76s) and Satbir Singh (45.84s) in 400m (qualifying mark 45.70s); K. M. Binu (1:47.52) in 800m (QM 1:47.40) and N. Gojen Singh (14:14.64) in 5000m (QM 14:10.00) among men and Sarswati Saha (11.44s) in women's 100m (QM 11.40s). In case either Bhupinder who has not shown any consistency after a 45.76 at Chennai or Satbir is chosen to join Ramachandran in the 400m, the man originally thought of as our No. 1 quarter-miler, Paramjeet Singh, will have to serve duty only on the relay team. Gojen was a disappointment at Colombo. He did not finish the 10,000m and asked to go in front in the 5000m, he did just that only to be overwhelmed by the leading runners after 4000 metres. The Manipur lad, once the brightest prospect in distance running in the country, has the endurance but not the speed required at the highest levels. Binu should be making it without a hitch, only his fitness causing concern in recent days. And so should Saraswati Saha, the best woman sprinter in the country for two seasons running. Her 11.47s in Delhi into a headwind of 2.5m/s on Monday was a superb effort as she decimated the field. Hammer thrower Pramod Tiwari, a consistent performer at the National level could also be looking for some relaxation in the standard though the leeway he has at 66.32 against the criterion of 68.50, is bigger than what the others face here. If the relay teams in both events in both sections are being recommended then it will solve much of the selection problems, including that of National 100m record holder Anil Kumar who suffered a rare defeat in Delhi against his Services team-mate Sanjay Ghosh. Anil has a 10.33s this season, equivalent to his National mark of 1999, against the AAFI norm of 10.30s. The longer relay teams in both sections should make it irrespective of meeting the prescribed standard. Both should be medal contenders at Busan. The 39.81s by a scratch second-ranked men's team and the 44.84s by the women's team in the sprint relays on Monday were encouraging. If they do make it, the composition will remain a suspense till the very end. Hopefully, no one will try the trick the men's relay team resorted to, two years ago, in its bid to qualify for the Olympics, switching lanes to gain on time. Recalling the Sydney Olympics, one can only shudder at the thought of another precipitous fall in the performance graph. Already some of the throwers have dipped to new `lows', with shot putter Navpreet Singh reaching just 17.60 in Delhi and Shakti doing slightly better at 18.08. But then, the shot putters seemed to have been hampered by a slippery circle at the Nehru Stadium. Here, they are expected to touch their `wonted form'.
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