Date:22/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/22/stories/2006052206271700.htm

Sport

Bangalore leg of Asian Grand Prix today

Avinash Nair

DRY RUN: Anju Bobby George, who has been nursing an injury, hopes to make an impression. — Photo: G.P. Sampath Kumar

BANGALORE: India, by its sheer weight of numbers, will look to garner a rich haul as the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix athletics championship unfolds at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Monday.

Dr. Lalit Bhanot, secretary-general of the Athletic Federation of India (AFI), said as a host India is permitted to field two extra entries in each event which will give the athletes the much needed exposure.

Except Bhupinder Singh, who is recovering from an injury and will sit out, the rest of the athletes will take part. Anju Bobby George, the ace long jumper and former World Championships bronze medallist who is nursing a heel injury on her right leg, confirmed her participation late in the day.

"The heel is still swollen and painful but I will give it a shot. I have not jumped since the injury just before the Doha Super Tour earlier this month. I have been trying sprints and other work-outs but have not jumped off the boards since then... hope everything will be fine tomorrow," said the lanky Customs officer.

Pinki Paramanik, the Bengal girl, has hit the headlines with some sterling performances in the last two seasons. At Bangkok, Pinki had won the gold in 800m and the silver in the one-lapper to lead the Indian charge. India had won three gold, five silver and four bronze medals in the first leg at Bangkok last Thursday.

Anil optimistic

For sprinter Anil Kumar this has been a favourite track and the National champion from MEG (Bangalore) would like to better his 10.53 seconds clocked at Bangkok and come up with a sterling show in front of his home crowd. "I'm raring to go and all things complying should finish better than at Bangkok. There, rains and humid conditions had made it tough," said Anil.

Maha Singh, long jump star who incidentally is only the second Indian to cross the eight-metre mark in long jump, has been consistently touching 7.90 plus in practice. "In Bangkok, the conditions were difficult and if the rains hold back here, I can realise those distances in competition too... hope to touch the eight-metre mark tomorrow," said the National record holder.

The burly Chinese shot putter, Zhang Qi, with a 21m throw, is the one to watch out for among a strong squad from the powerhouse. A 19-plus throw fetched him the gold at Bangkok, but with Navpreet and Kuwaiti Ahmad Gholum breathing down his neck, the performance level should improve many notches here.

Leaving behind the setback of Susanthika Jayasinghe returning home, the Lankans are expected to give it their all. Manager Badra Gunawardena, a former sprinter and now the Sri Lankan federation vice-president, sounded very optimistic. Rohan Pradeep Fernandes will once again lead the 400m one-two finish while Wachara Sondee of Thailand would once again test Chinese 100m champion Yongyi Wen.

Song Aimin, the discus thrower from China, has made waves and needs watching, although a 56.99m at Bangkok does not speak much for her showing there.

In the Indian camp, Seema Antil (discus), Satti Geeta (400m), Ghamanda Ram (800m) and Ranvijay Singh are all injured or recovering from bouts of jaundice.

The cultural programme is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. while the athletic events will commence at 5.30 p.m. The Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is expected to inaugurate the event.

At a press briefing, Lalit Bhanot said, "there has been some encouraging performances and we should capitalise on these. The federation has identified some youngsters and have worked up a training programme for them under coach Saini with the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi as the target. Although we did win only two medals — in discus throw (women) and the men's 4x400m relay squad — there was a lot more to cheer about and of late things are falling in place.

"The idea of having an inter-district championships was very successful last year at Faridabad with about 200 districts from all over the country participating. With this, all districts are compelled to have their district meets and then send a strong team to the all-India championship. Next time around we are planning to have about 400-500 districts participating," he said.

The AFI has also put in a proposal to the Government to hire a foreign coach for the juniors as well. "Like our seniors a foreign coach could provide lot of impetus to the juniors as well and we expect some good showing in the junior Asian and World Championships," he said.