It was a badly-timed meet, as the top middle and long distance runners were away in the United Kingdom, making a bid to qualify for the Olympics in a cooler climate than the Indian summer, writes K. P. Mohan.
With qualification for the Beijing Olympics at stake, one would have expected the 48th National inter-State athletics championships in Madurai to throw up a series of keen contests and records that breached Olympic standards. In the event, just two more athletes made the list of qualifiers, discus thrower Harwant Kaur and heptathlete J. J. Shobha.
The indifference with which the events were held and the lukewarm response of the athletes — there were events in which just three competed — would never have suggested that this was the “final selection trial” for the Olympics or whatever that meant since Asian-level meets were pending for athletes to aim for the criteria.
It was a badly-timed meet. For one thing, the top middle and long distance runners were away in the UK, making a bid to qualify for the Olympics in a cooler climate than the Indian summer. For another, the juniors were completing their engagements in the Asian junior championships in Jakarta when the Madurai meet was making a start.
The charm was lost because of the absence of the middle and long distance bunch; an opportunity was lost for at least one junior (Tintu Luka) to stake a claim for a place in the women’s longer relay team that was to make attempts at Olympic qualification in subsequent Asian Grand Prix meets.
Shobha crossed 6000 points in heptathlon for the first time since the Athens Olympics where she had braved an injury to complete the last event, the 800 metres for an eventual 11th-place finish with 6172 points. She logged personal bests in hurdles (13.72s) and javelin (46.90m) while posting her best marks since the Athens Olympics in all other events.
It was almost taken for granted that Shobha will book her place in the Beijing squad in Madurai. Thus, the focus was more on the younger Susmita Singha Roy, who, instead of touching the magical 6000-point mark that would have clinched her a place in the team, ended up in tears.
As things turned out, after a personal best 41.75 in javelin, Susmita needed 2:12.01 in the 800 metres to reach 6000 points. Despite being paced by Pramila Aiyappa, the Bengal girl could manage only 2:13.76, a personal best, that could not, however, gain her the Olympic ‘A’ standard as she ended up with 5975 points.
Susmita and her coach Kuntal Roy were distraught after the event. Roy was upset that his ward was not put in the same heat as Shobha and Pramila in the 100-metre hurdles, an inexplicable move by the technical officials that probably cost the 24-year-old Bengal girl a Beijing ticket.
The rules stipulate that the fastest runners should be clubbed together while drawing up heats for combined events. Shobha clocked 13.72 and Pramila 13.78, while running in the other heat alongside her ‘stablemate’, Soma Biswas, Susmita timed 14.11, one of her poorest timings in recent times.
“Olympics comes once in four years. Why did they do that?” lamented Dr. Roy. Since being omitted from the Indian team for the Asian Games in Doha, the Susmita camp had always felt that she was not one of the “favourites” of the authorities. She and Dr. Roy had thus targeted 6000 in this meet to scotch speculations about selection to Olympics. It did not turn out the way they had planned. She will have another chance in the Combined Events National in Bangalore in mid-July.
Pramila surprised everyone by leading on the first day. But once she found that 6000 was beyond her after a modest long jump (6.17) and a poor javelin (36.18) she gave up and decided to pace Susmita, sacrificing herself in the process. She did not finish the 800 and ended up with 4969 points for the bronze.
Purely from the Olympics perspective, the career-best 51.74 seconds clocked by Mandeep Kaur in the women’s 400 metres was a stupendous effort. She might not after all be fielded in the individual event in Beijing, but her powerful running will be of help in the 4x400m relay in which India all but booked an Olympic place with a surprising 2:28.29 in the second Asian Grand Prix meet in Korat, Thailand.
The hamstring spasms suffered by Manjeet Kaur in the 400m final in Madurai put her out of contention for the Asian Grand Prix relays but Mandeep and others responded splendidly. After a modest 3:32.55 in Bangkok the sudden jump to a sub-3:29, India’s first in four years, in Korat was an unbelievable feat.
Harwant Kaur, with a best of 55.55 last year and 58.54 this year, could not have been expected to touch 61 metres, but she did, on her last throw. It was always felt that Seema Antil stood a better chance of joining Krishna Poonia as the second discus entry for Beijing. Poonia having already attained the ‘A’ norm (61.0) the race was between Harwant and Seema though all three can be fielded if all have the standard.
Anju George could manage only a 6.50 in long jump. With Olympics less than two months away this was not all that encouraging but both Anju and husband Bobby George exuded confidence that in the weeks ahead she would be able to come into top form.
K. Krishnamohan’s national record in the 110m hurdles (14.00) was forgotten amidst the focus on Olympic aspirants. The Armyman from Guntur was an effortless winner. But for running into a headwind he might have cracked 14.0 seconds. Two points need mention here to put Krishnamohan’s effort in perspective.
Neither Naunidh Singh whose record (14.05) it was that the Andhra athlete bettered nor Gurpreet Singh, the previous record holder who bettered Gurbachan Singh Randhawa’s long-standing mark from the Tokyo Olympics, managed to make an impact even at the continental level. For the record, 32 athletes dipped under 14.00 seconds last year in Asia.
A National meet in Madurai, after three decades, should have given a boost to Tamil Nadu athletics. Spectator interest was kept alive with music and dance under floodlights, though, coupled with the fireworks on the opening day, the cacophony just ruined the men’s high jump competition.
“We had to warm up four times for the 400 heats,” said a top male quarter-miler. The programme got delayed because of the fireworks and dances and to make it worse the fireworks were held near the warm-up track.
The overall organisation remained sub-standard through the course of the meet. The media, despite regular interventions from technical officials, was left to fend for itself much of the time in gathering results. Worse, lights were switched off on the first and last days when reporters were frantically trying to meet deadlines past 11 p.m. The worst was the attempt to take the working tables away just as the last event finished on the final day.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has ambitious plans to raise crores for the domestic circuit. It believes that the media could be attracted even without major achievements by Indian athletes in the international arena provided the event is “sold” to it in the right manner. Madurai set a poor example and left the scribes frustrated.
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