Date:20/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/20/stories/2006022005131700.htm

Sport - Athletics

Rajeev shocks Ghamanda Ram

K.P. Mohan

PATIALA: Former junior national champion Rajeev R. provided the upset of the day as he won the 800 metres, pushing favourite Ghamanda Ram to the second place in the National circuit meet here on Sunday.

The focus having been on Ghamanda Ram ever since the domestic season started, considering the qualification chances he had for the Commonwealth Games, the men's 800 metres was the event everyone was waiting for this day.

A pacer took Ghamanda and the others through an opening lap of around 49 seconds and it looked promising enough for a better finish for Ghamanda than in Delhi the other day. But once Rajeev started pulling away from about 300 metres out, the Armyman could not respond and he was content to come along behind him on the straight, realizing that it was futile. Ghamanda said that his body had stiffened through the last lap and he could not do much about it.

Rajeev was elated that he had a personal best of 1:50.22. The 22-year-old from Kollam had been national junior champion in the event in 2003 and 2004 while he had come behind Ghamanda in the first National Endurance meet in Delhi this season, clocking 1:51.04, his best till then.

The two-lap runners have to look for timings around 1:46.79 in order to gain selection for Melbourne. Ghamanda had timed 1:47.16 in the first circuit meet in Delhi and the coaches were hoping for a better effort on Sunday.

Two-women race

O. P. Jaisha scored over the newly-crowned Asian indoor champion, Sinimole Paulose for a second time on the trot as she posted a personal outdoor best of 4:16.80. In a two- woman race, Sinimole was well behind coming into the straight and though she put in a good effort towards the finish, the gap was too much to bridge. Sinimole who had lost to Jaisha in Delhi also, clocked 4:20.22.

The men's metric mile specialist, Pritam Bind, also returned a personal best of 3:45.97 while effortlessly winning his event, with C. Hamza coming a second a second time.

Overall the standards remained poor, exceptions notwithstanding, and the sight of the male shot putters logging 16 metres plus only went to prove how far behind we are when the 'cream's is kept away or shies away. In this case, some of the best athletes have been under suspension for their

"disappearing act" when WADA came calling while some of the others have preferred to keep away for reasons that are not hard to understand.

All the top athletes, barring those who might be still under disciplinary procedure, are, however, expected to figure in the Federation Cup in Delhi, originally slated from February 24 and now scheduled from February 28 to March 3.

The results:

Men: 400m: Race A: 1. Sarish Paul (Ser) 47.51s, 2. Aboobacker (Ser) 47.82, 3. Anil Kumar Rohil (Ser) 47.97; Race `B': 1. Srinivas S. (Rly) 47.25s, 2. Kuldev Singh (P. Pol) 47.65, 3. Srikant Padhi (Rly) 47.83; 800m: 1. Rajeev R. (Ker) 1:50.22, 2. Ghamanda Ram (Ser) 1:52.00, 3. Amit Mishra (Tatas) 1:52.09; 1500m: 1. Pritam Bind (ONGC) 3:45.97, 2. C. Hamza (Ser) 3:46.36, 3. Ravinder (Del) 3:52.07. 5000m: 1. Santosh Kumar Patel (Rly) 14:28.95, 2. S. Raghunath (Rly) 14:56.23, 3. Ram Bahadur Subba (BSF) 15:05.56; High jump: 1. Hari Sankar Roy (Rly) 2.14m, 2. Omveer Singh (Rly) 2.09, 3. Amardeep (Pun) 1.85; Shot put: 1. Kuldeep Mann (CISF) 16.39m, 2. Gurjeet Singh (Pun) 16.50, 3. Om Prakash (Har) 16.33; Hammer: 1. Kulwinder Singh (P. Pol) 65.10, 2. Nirbhay Singh (Navy) 63.88, 3. Naresh Chaudhary (Del) 63.22; Javelin: 1. Om Narayan (Rly) 73.48m, 2. Ankit Kumar (Har) 73.36, 3. Anil Kumar (Rly) 72.27.

Women: 100m: 1. Poonam Tomar (Del) 12.00s, 2. Anurdha Biswal (Uttaranchal) 12.11, 3. Deepti Jose (Rly) 12.16; 400m: 1. H. M. Jyothi (Canara Bank) 54.61s, 2. Sagardeep Kaur (Pun) 55.70, 3. Babita Singh (Rly) 55.81; 800m: 1. Pinki Paramanik (Rly) 2:03.90, 2. Sutapa Das (Rly) 2:11.57, 3. Sushma (Del) 2: 11.78; 1500m: 1. O. P. Jaisha (Rly) 4:16.80, 2. Sinimole Paulose (Tatas) 4:20.22 (only two competed); 5000m: 1. Preeja Sreedharan (Rly) 16:33.57 (lone woman in mixed competition).