Date:13/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/13/stories/2006031309172000.htm

Sport - Athletics

Harwant Kaur qualifies

NEW DELHI: Woman discus thrower Harwant Kaur made the grade while the men's 4x400m relay team failed to come within the prescribed cut-off mark during the additional trials for athletes aspiring to make the Commonwealth Games team at the Nehru Stadium on Sunday.

Harwant had her best of 58.94 metres on her sixth attempt, as against the third-place norm of 58.13m, and will join the 18-member team named earlier.

She also had throws of 58.08 and 57.20 apart from three fouls. She is expected to leave on Monday. The bulk of the team is already in Melbourne.

Harwant said that she was confident of crossing the 60-metre mark in Melbourne and looked forward to have a podium finish at the games.

The men's relay team comprising P. Shankar (unofficial split 47.35), S. Sreenivas (46.84), Satbir Singh (46.22) and Bhupinder Singh (45.84), with pacers in front, clocked 3:06.39.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) which on its own initiative had ordered the additional trials after the Union Sports Ministry cleared a 33-member athletics squad in the 270-member Indian contingent, had fixed 3:04 as the minimum standard for the relay team. — Special Correspondent