The Hindu : Saraswati breaks 23-second barrier

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 29, 2002

Sport

Sport - Athletics

Saraswati breaks 23-second barrier

By K. P. Mohan

Bengal's Saraswati Saha who set a new National mark in the 200m in the National Circuit meet at Ludhiana on Wednesday. Vinita Tripathi, who finished second, is at right. — Photo: V. Sudershan

LUDHIANA AUG. 28. Saraswati Saha broke through the 23-second barrier on Wednesday as the selection process for the Asian Games gained its final shape with the last National Circuit meet of the season being gone through at the partially-lit Guru Nanak Stadium here.

The 23-year-old Bengal girl shattered the National record in the 200 metres, but like in Delhi the other day, the overall performances in the last Circuit meet failed to come up to expectations. There was of course a marked improvement in the standards in men's shot put, with Shakti Singh touching 19.99m and Bahadur Singh 19.93m, and an encouraging tussle for places in the women's longer relay with as many as seven girls coming below 54.0 secs.

Yet, if the meet managed to rise above the routine, it was thanks solely to Saraswati. Running in a three-woman field and in an event which was a non-starter only the previous night, with only Vinita Tripathi to provide any meaningful challenge to her, Saraswati easily won the 200 in 22.82 seconds. It was the first time that an Indian had come under 23.0 seconds, the previous mark of 23.10s belonging to Rachita Mistry, since the Inter-State meet in Chennai, in July, 2000.

Only when the runners had gone in for the warm-up for the 100m were the leading girls told to concentrate on the 200 and pull out of the short dash. Thus, with a late start forced by the absence of a pistol — later replaced by a rifle — and only a 40-minute gap separating the two sprints, Saraswati, Rachita Mistry and Vinita Tripathi were asked to go for the longer dash. Rachita eventually pulled out of the event and later pulled up on the anchor in the trial relay for the 4x100m event.

Coming through the bend with a comfortable lead, Saraswati held her course through the straight in fine style to win by a 0.69 margin from Vinita. Considering that it was her first 200m race of the season and only her second competitive race after along lay-off due to injuries, it was an encouraging show by Vinita as well.

Saraswati attirbuted her improved showing this season to more intensive training. She was a little apprehensive of her form in the 200m, not having run many races over the distance this season, and having clocked a best of 23.68s earlier. With Wednesday's effort, Saraswati has moved to the top of the season's list in Asia, with Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka behind her with her winning time of 22.84s in the Asian championships in Colombo.

In the Asian Games context, suddenly a sprint medal in the women's section has cropped up on the horizon, though no one is sure about what the Chinese will have to offer. In any case, these are early days yet. The real test will come only at Busan.

Shakti Singh shines

After a below-par show in Delhi on Monday, the shot putters, led by Shakti Singh, were in their peak form this day in a keenly-fought competition. Bahadur Singh opened with a 19.93 and that set the tempo for the rest of the competition. Shakti, second until the fifth round, with a best of 19.23 in the third, was jumping for joy as he putted to a distance of 19.99m. He did an impromptu jig, but later said that he had not touched his best in technical perfection. "The speed of the turns often matters. Today was a good day, but not my best,'' said the 40-year-old Railwayman who holds the National record at 20.42m.

Shakti had led the Asian ranking list for the season with a 19.79 till Wednesday, with Bahadur in second place at 19.68. The Asian champion, Saad Bilal Mubarak of Qatar had a 19.22 at Colombo. Nothing much has been known about the Chinese this season after their National championships in June.

In the two races in the women's 400 metres, competition for places in the longer relay team gained its climax as the top six in the main race plus S. Geetha (53.92) in the second race, came under 54 seconds. K.M. Beenamol won the main race in fluent style, though the 51.47s she clocked was not exactly to her liking. Jincy Philipc locked her best for the season, 52.57s, coming second while Manjima Kuriakose was third in 52.94. Behind them, Manjit Kaur clocked 53.61, V. Jayalakshmi had a 53.84 and Sunita Dahiya 53.91.

P. Ramachandran showed once again who the boss was in the men's 400m, just as he had done in Delhi, clocking a 46.28. K. J. Manojlal and Satbir Singh took the positions behind him but in a shocking finish, Paramjeet Singh ended up fifth after having looked capable of at least grabbing the silver. Jata Shankar nosed ahead of him towards the end. There should be a problem or two for the selectors as they finalise the team for the Asiad since Paramjeet does not have a qualifying mark to get into the individual event, but should make it on his reputation, at least as the fifth man in the relay.

Anil Kumar avenges defeat

Anil Kumar avenged his Delhi defeat against Services team-mate Sanjay Ghosh, winning the 100m in 10.51s. He later won the 200m also, in 21.05s, ahead of Anand Menezes, the man in form in the longer dash and Ajay Raj Singh, back after a lay-off.

Pramod Kumar Tiwari, in hammer, and Jagdish Bishnoi, in javelin, continued to be below the norm prescribed in their events for Asian Games selection, but there were indications that their names would be entered and they given a further chance to meet the norms in the Open meet in Delhi next month.

The men's 4x100m relay team, running alone, and in virtual darkness since only a few spotlights worked and there was no floodlighting arrangements, clocked a 40.16, poorer than in Delhi when actually the main team anchored by Anil Kumar had won and not as reported.

The results:

Men: 100m: 1. Anil Kumar (SSCB) 10.51s, 2. Sanjay Ghosh (SSCB) 10.56, 3. Anand Menezes (Rly) 10.61. 200m: 1. Anil Kumar (SSCB) 21.05s, 2. Anand Menezes (Rly) 21.10, 3. Ajay Raj Singh (Punjab Police) 21.85. 400m: Race `A': K. M. Binu (Rly) 47.09, 2. Ramesh Kumar (Steel Plants) 47.98, 3. Jaspreet Singh (Punjab Police) 48.11. Race `B': 1. P. Ramachandran (TN) 46.28s, 2. K. J. Manojlal (Rly) 46.41, 3. Satbir Singh (SSCB) 46.41. 1500m: 1. Kuldip Kumar (UP) 3:47.17, 2. Gulab Chand (Rly) 3:47.64, 3. Ghamanda Ram (SSCB) 3:50.13.

Shot put: 1. Shakti Singh (Rly) 19.99m, 2. Bahadur Singh (Punjab Police) 19.93, 3. Navpreet Singh (Punjab Police) 18.54.

Hammer: 1. Pramod Tiwari (UP) 66.10m, 2. Gurinderjit Singh (Pun) 63.91, 3. Rakesh Kumar (UP) 63.25.

Javelin: 1. Jagdish Bishnoi (Pol) 76.00m, 2. Harminder Singh (Pun) 75.78, 3. Sunil Goswami (LIC) 72.75.

Women: 100m: V. Jayalakshmi (TN) 11.73, 2. Anuradha Biswal (Ori) 11.86, 3. Poonam Tomar (Del) 11.90. 200m: 1. Saraswati Saha (Rly) 22.82s (National record, old 23.10) , 2. Vinita Tripathi (LIC) 23.51, 3. J. J. Shobha (AP) 24.68. 400m: Race `A': S. Geetha (AP) 53.92s, 2. P. Udaya Laxmi (AP) 54.42, 3. Priya Rose (Rly) 55.29. Race `B': 1. K. M. Beenamol (Rly) 51.47s, 2. Jincy Philip (Pol) 52.57, 3. Manjima Kuriakose (Pol) 52.94. 1500m: 1. Sunita Rani (Punjab Police) 4:13.14, 2. Madhuri Singh (PSEB) 4:18.10, 3. Sunita Kumari (Del) 4:19.37. 100m hurdles: 1. Anuradha Biswal (Ori) 13.66s, 2. Soma Biswas (Ben) 13.78, 3. Poonam Bojanna (Kar) 14.14.

Discus: 1. Neelam J. Singh (Rly) 59.84m, 2. Harwant Kaur (Pun) 57.60, 3. Seema Antil (Har) 57.40.

Hammer: 1. Hardeep Kaur (Pun) 59.00m, 2. Rajwinder Kaur (Pun) 55.21, 3. Alka Pandey (UP) 47.47.

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