The Hindu : Women's relay team bags gold

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 14, 2002

Sport

Sport - Asian Games

Women's relay team bags gold

By K.P. Mohan

India's Soma Biswas (right) hands over the baton to anchor K.M. Beenamol during the 4x400m relay for women at the Busan main stadium on Sunday. — Photos: V. Sudershan

BUSAN OCT. 13. The euphoria of ending up with the best ever Asian Games gold collection in athletics since 1978, was somewhat dampened as news trickled into the Indian camp that Sunita Rani had tested positive for a banned steroid in the test conducted after her 1,500m victory last Thursday.

With the women's 4x400m relay team claiming the gold, rather expectedly, on the concluding day of the track and field action on Sunday _ with only the men's marathon remaining _ the Indian gold tally swelled to seven, the same as Saudi Arabia and just one short of its haul at the 1978 Bangkok Games. China had 14 gold medals, one less than last time.

India's best so far from athletics had been the 10 gold medals it won in the inaugural Asian Games at home. At Bangkok, four years ago, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar had provided India with both its gold medals in a bunch of 15 medals, the total being the same this time, too. The fourth silver and the fourth bronze for India came this day through woman high jumper Bobby Aloysius and men's discus thrower Anil Kumar.

In case the doping charge against Sunita is confirmed after the `B' sample is tested, then India's collection will be lesser by a gold and a bronze.

But then, it will not be the athletics medals for India that will dominate discussions the next few days in the Asian sports fraternity, but the suspicion that has been created by the positive test returned by Sunita Rani.

Everyone had started asking questions about the `secret' behind the Indian success and now, with this unfortunate development, the rumour mill is bound to work overtime.

Oblivious of the activities behind the scenes, relating to Sunita's dope test, the relay teams ran well enough to win medals. The gold for the women's longer team apart, there was an unexpected silver for the men's 4x400m team, ahead of the more favoured Japan and behind Saudi Arabia.

Nothing seems to have gone right for the Japanese athletes. From a dozen gold medals in 1998 to just two this time should be considered as the greatest fall any team has suffered in recent times.

The Indian men's 4x100m team clocked a new National mark but could not get among the medals, finishing fourth while the women's shorter relay team, with an half-fit Saraswati Saha running the anchor, finished fifth.

K. M. Beenamol has also been far from fit these past few days, having a bout of fever and cold and generally feeling the strain of competing in more than one event and doing the rounds. But the overall strength of the Indian 1,600m quartet has been such that the gold was always taken for granted. Jincy Philip ran an average opening leg, Manjit Kaur, the weak link, managed a reasonable lap, while Soma Biswas ran spiritedly to maintain the Indian lead.

Beenamol was a little sluggish and yet never allowed anyone else to come close.

On the home straight, Kazakh Svetlana Bodritskaya made a gallant effort but the gap was too much. India timed 3:30.84, short of its National mark of 3:28.11 but well clear of Kazakhstan which clocked 3:31.72. China took the bronze.

Bobby's dream realised

For Bobby Aloysius, the silver from the high jump pit was the realisation of a dream, though four years late. Denied the chance to compete in Bangkok last time, as the federation excluded her from the team, Bobby was so determined to win a medal that she put everything she and husband Shajan Scaria had into a training programme in Moscow during the past two years.

The end-product was the silver behind Kyrgyzstan's Tatiana Effimenko. In fact there were two silvers, Bobby and Kazakh Marina Korzhova clearing 1.88 metres on their first attempts after having had a replica of sequence for the previous jumps.

Effimenko, who could clear 1.88 only on her third jump, smoothly sailed over 1.90 on her first attempt to clinch the gold. She had also won in the Colombo Asian championships where Bobby had taken the silver and Korzhova the bronze.

Through the competition, a band played right behind the high jumpers. Coupled with the din that the cheerleaders were creating, it was tough for the jumpers to concentrate. "I kept requesting for the band to stop right from my first jump,'' said Bobby. "I feel very upset about it,'' she added, explaining the kind of nuisance that band turned out to be.

``I could not get my best technique, but my fitness came in handy,'' said Bobby. She was not satisfied with what she had jumped, though overjoyed that she was a silver winner in the Asian Games. For a morning competition, 1.88, her second best ever behind her National mark of 1.90 set in Bangalore this season, was no mean achievement.

Anil Kumar unhappy

Anil Kumar was another Indian athlete who was unhappy with his performance, though he had a bronze in discus. He was in the lead right up to the fifth round, with a throw of 59.81, but then first the world junior champion from China, Wu Tao (60.76) and then Iranian Abbas Samimi (60.36) came up with better throws in the fifth round.

Samimi upped it further to a 60.44 while Wu Tao and Anil fouled their sixth attempts. The disappointment was the Asian champion and leader for the season, Qatari Rasheed Shafi Al-Dossari who managed just 59.15 against his Colombo performance of 64.43.

Bobby Aloysius of India sails over the bar to claim the women's high jump silver in the 14th Asian Games at Busan on Sunday.

``I just couldn't get going after the opening foul. The second throw had to be careful. After that somehow things didn't work out. I was hoping for the gold, for, I had prepared myself so hard,'' said Anil, who has been training in Hungary through this season and had recorded a National mark of 62.12 metres at Szomathely in August.

Anju B. George, the gold winer in long jump, lost a bronze in triple jump after tying for the third place with Kazakh Tatyana Bocharova at 13.26. Her second best was a 13.18 compared to the Kazakh's 13.23. That settled the argument. Chinese Hunag Qiyuan posted a Games record with a second-round leap of 14.28. The other Chinese, Zhang Hao claimed the silver at 13.89.

The men's sprint relay team of Sanjay Ghosh, Piyush Kumar, Anand Menezes and Anil Kumar clocked a National mark of 39.36, bettering the 39.70 by the Indian team in the Asian meet in Jakarta two years ago, but the effort was not good enough to get India a medal.

Ghosh had his hand clipped by the Malaysian runner Tan Kok Lim as he was about to hand over the baton, but fortunately, though a poor one, he managed the exchange. Anil Kumar ran a spirited anchor, as though to prove that he had not lost any of his touch over the straight. There had been some doubts about his retention in the team.

The Indian team management protested that China, which took the bronze had gone out of its lane on the third exchange, but the protest was thrown out after the jury viewed the video-replays.

The Indian women's shorter relay team paid the price for a poor exchange on the first change, between V. Jayalakshmi and Vinita Tripathi. Saraswati, her back in pain, apart from a suspect hamstring, managed to run the anchor, though India was never in contention for a medal.

North Korean Ham Bong Sil won the women's marathon and was in tears as her country's National anthem was played, for the first time in athletics competitions here, during the medals ceremony. The double gold medallist at the Asian championship in Colombo, was one of the favourites in. She got clear of a persistent Japanese, Harumi Hiroyama, nearing the 25km mark and kept widening the margin. Ham Bong Sil was into the stadium, lustily cheered by a sparse crowd, a lap ahead of Hiroyama. She clocked two hours, 33 minutes, 35 seconds while Hiroyama had 2:34.44. Hiromi Ominami came third in 2:37.48. In a field of just 11 runners, Chinese Liu Min and Korean Kwon Eun Ju were not among the finishers.

The results: Men: Discus: 1. Wu Tao (Chn) 60.76, 2. Abbas Samimi (Iri) 60.44, 3. Anil Kumar (Ind) 59.81.

4x100m relay: 1. Thailand (Reanchai Siharwong, Vasanu Sophanich, Ekkchai Junthana, Sittichai Suwornprateep) 38.82 (GR, old 38.91), 2. Japan (Hisashi Miyazaki, Shingo Suetsugu, Hiroyasu Tsuchie, Nobuhara Asahara) 38.90, 3. China (Shen Yunbao, Chen Haijian, Yin Hanzhao, Han Chaoming) 39.09.

4x400m relay: 1. Saudi Arabia (Hamed Al Bishi, Haadi S. Al-Somaily, Mohammed Al Salhi, Hamdan O. Al Bishi) 3:02.47, 2. India (P. Ramachandran, K. J. Manojlal, Satbir Singh, Bhupinder Singh) 3:04.22, 3. Sri Lanka (Rohan Pradeep Kumara, R. K. W.A. Waruna, Prasnna Amarasekhara, Sugath Tillakeratne) 3:04.37.

Women: High jump: 1. Tatiana Effimenko (Kgz) 1.90, 2. Bobby Aloysius (Ind) and Marina Korzhova (Kaz) 1.88.

Triple jump: 1. Huang Qiuyan (Chn) 14.28 (GR, old 14.27), 2. Zhang Hao (Chn) 13.89, 3. Tatyana Bocharova (Kaz) 13.26.

4x100m: 1. China (Zeng Xiujun, Yan Jiankui, Huang Mei, Qin Wangping) 43.84, 2. Thailand (Jutamas Tawoncharoen, Orranut Klomdee, Trecia Roberts) 44.25, 3. Uzbekistan (Anna Kazakova, Guzel Khubbieva, Luudmila Dmitriadi, Lyubov Perepelova) 44.59.

4x400m: 1. India (Jincy Philip, Manjit Kaur, Soma Biswas, K. M. Beenamol) 3:30.84, Kazakhstan (Tatyana Roslanvoa, Natalya Torshina, Olga Tereshkova, Svetlana Bodritskaya) 3:31.72, 3. China (Qin Wangping, Bo Fanfang, Hou Xiufen, Chen Yuxiang) 3:32.43.

Marathon: 1. Ham Bong Sil (PRK) 2:33:35, 2. Harumi Hiroyama (Jpn) 2:34:44, 3. Hiromi Ominami (Jpn) 2:37:48.

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