Date:30/11/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/30/stories/2006113005202200.htm

Sport - Athletics

AFI announces 43-member team

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: After weeks of suspense, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) finally announced a 43-member team for the Asian Games on Wednesday. The athletics events start in Doha on December 7.

The men's 4x100 metres relay team will be put through a trial here on Thursday. It is not clear what time it would be expected to clock, though there has been talk of a mark of 39.40 seconds.

The 22-member women's team includes pole-vaulter V.S. Sureka whose selection had hung in the balance for several days. Hammer thrower Hardeep Kaur, who did not find favour with the selectors initially, has also been included in the team.

Tintu included

P. T. Usha's trainee, Tintu Luka, has made it in the 4x400m relay team. She won the under-18 title in the just-concluded junior National in Bangalore in 55.45s to confirm her credentials.

Thirteen members of the team, comprising quarter-milers and throwers, are currently in Muscat on an "acclimatisation" programme. They will reach Doha on December 2.

Interestingly, those who could have benefited from an acclimatisation stint in Muscat or Doha, the middle and long distance runners now in Bangalore, are scheduled to reach Doha last, on December 6. The rest of the squad including Anju George will leave on December 3.

The team: Men: S. Arunjith, Aravind Alaguvel, Vilas Neelgund, B.G. Nagaraj, Amit Kumar Saha and Vishal Saxena (4x100m), K.M. Binu (400m, 4x400m), Joseph Abraham (400m hurdles, 4x400m), P. Shankar, Bhupinder Singh, T. Aboobacker and P.S. Sreejith (4x400m), C. Hamza (1500m), Sunil Kumar Singh (5000m), Surender Kumar Singh (5000m, 10,000m), Shiv Shankar Yadav (long jump), Renjith Maheshwary (triple jump), Hari Sankar Roy (high jump), Navpreet Singh (shot put), Vikas Gowda (shot put, discus) and P.J. Vinod (decathlon).

Women: Poonam Tomar (100m, 4x100m), H.M. Jyothi, Deepthi Jose, Nidhi Singh and Anuradha Biswal (4x100m), Chitra Soman (200m, 4x400m), Manjeet Kaur (400m, 4x400m), Pinki Paramanik (200m, 400m, 4x400m), Mandeep Kaur, S. Geetha and Tintu Luka (4x400m), S. Shanthi and Sinimole Paulose (800m, 1500m), O.P. Jaisha and Preeja Sreedharan (5000m, 10,000m), V.S. Sureka (pole vault), Anju B. George (long jump, triple jump), Seema Antil and Krishna Poonia (discus), Hardeep Kaur (hammer), Soma Biswas (heptathlon) and J.J. Shobha (long jump, heptathlon).

Boxers stranded

Two Doha-bound boxers have been delayed here due to visa problems while teams in handball, tenpin bowling and sepak takraw are getting ready to fly out to the Qatari capital despite the Union Government saying `no'.

Boxers Harpreet Singh (91kg) and Manoj Kumar (69kg) are still awaiting their travel documents after their accreditations got misplaced in transit. While Harpreet was cleared by the Union Sports Ministry as part of the six-member boxing team, the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) is sending Manoj Kumar and three others at its cost.

The IABF has fielded boxers in 10 of the 11 weight categories. The preliminary rounds begin on December 2. Both Harpreet and Manoj were set to fly out on Thursday morning, but their tickets have now been rescheduled to Friday after the secretary of the Indian contingent in Doha assured them that the required documents would be made available by Thursday.