Will their attitude ever change?

AVINASH NAIR

"MEETS like these are welcome. More the merrier," was what the athletes echoed at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium during the third Domestic Circuit meet. But if the weather gods will it otherwise, the athletes, officials et al can only grin and bear with it.

That was exactly what they all did.

Sharp showers, just at the time of the 2.30 p.m. commencement, rendered the third leg's proceedings into a damp squib. And sent many an expectation into disarray.

If the 400m women's face-off between Beenamol and Jincy Philip fizzled out a day earlier, with the two athletes reporting sick, it was the duel between Anju Bobby George and Pramila in the long jump pit, which was expected to carry the day.

The two did warm-up and even had a couple of trial jumps. But the sudden showers forced them to scurry into the stands and 'forego' the competition. Rightly too, for with major national and international events scheduled for the next six months, the athletes were safeguarding themselves from injuries. But the expectant enthusiasts were let down.

The attention was then riveted to the discus throw ring wherein National champion and record holder Neelam J. Singh was pitted against the World junior champion Seema Antil of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The final result looked close (Neelam's 55.95m to Seema's 55.85m) but Neelam had just her first throw as legitimate, fouling her next three while Seema fouled once but came up close only in her third attempt. The rest was pathetically poor. Blame it on the rains!

Navpreet Singh too complained of the slippery ring during the men's shot put event. But the burly Punjab lad, just 22 years old, did impress with his third successive win and all with 18- plus efforts. While he did 18.23 metres here, the title wins in Nagercoil and Thiruvananthapuram came with equally impressive throws. Navpreet, in the absence of Shakti Singh who missed all three domestic circuit meets due to personal problems, proved a winning horse despite the presence of Jaiveer Singh and Kuldeep Mann, both of whom looked capable of much better efforts than the ones they produced.

Sunil Goswami of LIC proved the dark horse in the field of seven in javelin which was bereft of big names. Nevertheless his effort of 70.67m early in the season is a good beginning.

Not much separated Pramod Tiwari and Ishtiaque Ahmed in the hammer throw. However Customs' Tiwari avenged his loss to Ishtiaque at Thiruvanathapuram with a 63.83m effort which was marginally better than Ishtiaque's 63.09m.

In the absence of both Anju George and Pramila, the talented Shilpa Sequeira needed no further prodding, leaping to a 5.88m distance, enough to clinch the long jump title. However, Shilpa, by her own standards, had a poor day, her best in the event being 6.00m. Kalpana Das (W.B.) and the Kerala duo of Anisha Vijayan and Manjusha Joseph were simply not in the same league.

On to the tracks, there were some heartwarming performances, with Kavita Pandya stealing the thunder. The powerfully built Kavita showed brilliant finishing prowess to leave the field struggling in both the 100m and the 200m. The 20-year-old Mithibai College student from Mumbai, employed with the Western Railway, simply outran the rest, leading at the finish by a good 8-10 yards. Kavita looks a good bet for the future if nursed well, although her time of 12.00 seconds flat here was below her range of 11.8 pluses she was timed at both Nagercoil and Thiruvananthapuram.

Also enacting a repeat performance was Satish Kumar of Delhi in the long jump pit. Satish for want of challenge mustered a 7.20m in a rain drenched long jump run-up, but could have done much better having done 7.29m and 7.42m in the earlier two meets. Diego Braganza, a SAI lad training under Nishad Kumar, too earned his personal best effort of 7.02 metres, to finish a creditable second.

Clifford Joshua, the flag bearer of Karnataka athletics over the last few seasons, timed his personal best in both the 100m and 200m. The 10.60 seconds in the shorter distance was good enough only to fetch him the third spot behind C. Thirugnanadurai (10.58s) and Sandeep Sarkaria (10.60s). But in the longer sprint, which is Clifford's pet event, as was the case with his mentor and coach Anand Shetty (former National champion), the talented runner from Corporation Bank simply left the field behind. Clifford did allow the early lead to Thirugnanadurai (who does not fancy the 200m) but after the curve accelerated as is his wont to breast the tape in a time of 21.30 seconds. Durai was timed at 21.65s for the second place.

The Railway athlete, Durai, however stamped his class to determine the 'fastest man' tag. Off the blocks in good burst, Durai simply breezed past in lane four as Sandeep Sarkaria (lane 7) and Clifford (lane 8) closed in at the finish. There was not much to differentiate in the timing as well, as Durai was credited with a 10.58 seconds while Sarkaria and Clifford in that order clocked 10.60 seconds.

Soma Biswas made the 400 metres race her very own in the absence of Beenamol and Jincy Philip, even as O.M. Nambiar-trained R. Sukumari came second. Young Karnataka runner Bindu Rani left many of her fancied rivals behind with a burst in the final 20-odd metres.

The corresponding event for men saw dark outsider Bhubendra Singh of Haryana accelerating in the straight to beat back the challenge of both Jata Shankar and Lijo David.

The two lap race for men also had a rank outsider K. A. Jayakumar (CISF), breasting the tape ahead of the field in 1:53.86 seconds, while Madhuri A. Singh of PSEB made it two in a row in the women's section. Madhuri incidentally had won the 1500m in the Nagercoil meet.

The results:

Men: 100m: 1. C. Thirugnanadurai (Rlys) 10.58s, 2. Sandeep Sarkaria (Del) 10.60s, 3. Clifford Joshua (Kar) 10.60s. 200m: Clifford Joshua (Kar) 21.30s, 2. C. Thirugnanadurai (Rlys) 21.65s, 3. Jata Shankar (U.P.) 21.75s. 400m: 1. Bubendra Singh (Har) 47.43s, Jata Shankar (Pol) 47.57s, 3. Lijo David (Rlys) 47.63s. 800m: K. A. Jayakumar (CISF) 1:53.86s, 2. Satishwar Prasad (Del) 1:54.13s, 3. Sanjay Dasila (Del) 1:54.28s. Long jump: 1. Satish Kumar (Del) 7.20m, 2. Diego Braganza (Kar) 7.02m, 3. Saravanan (T.N.) 6.88m. Shot put: 1. Navpreet Singh (Pun) 18.23m, 2. Kuldeep Singh (CISF) 17.28m, 3. Mukesh Singh (CRPF) 16.83m. Javelin throw: 1. Sunil Goswamy (LIC) 70.67m, 2. R. K. Mourya (CRPF) 66.87m, 3. Devendra Singh (Har) 66.27m. Hammer throw: 1. Pramod Tiwari (Customs) 63.83m, 2. Ishtiaque Ahmed (U.P.) 63.09m, 3. Vinod Kumar (LIC) 61.59m.

Women: 100m: 1. Kavita Pandya (Rlys) 12.00s, 2. G. Vasanthi (Kar) 12.62s, 3. B. Poonam (Kar) 12.73s. 200m: 1. Kavita Pandya (Rlys) 24.38s, 2. G. G. Pramila (Kar) 24.59s, 3. V. Jayalakshmi (T.N.) 25.24s. 400m: 1. Soma Biswas (Rlys) 55.46s, 2. R. Sukumari (Ker) 56.20s, 3. Bindu Rani (Kar) 56.55s. 800m: 1. Madhuri A. Singh (PSEB) 2:12.72s, 2. Harjeeth Kaur (Pun) 2:15.18s, 3. N. K. Rekha (Ker) 2:16.41s. Long jump: 1. Shilpa Sequeira (Kar) 5.88m, 2. Kalpana Das (W.B.) 5.62m, 3. Anisha K. Vijayan (Ker) 5.56m. Discus throw: 1. Neelam J. Singh (Rlys) 55.95m, 2. Seema Antil (CRPF) 55.85m, 3. Sugan Yadav (Rlys) 52.44m.

THE rains caught the organisers and the athletes off guard. Though it had been threatening to pour the past few days, it had kept away. But just when the events were to commence, the sky opened up.

The all-weather track at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium took a drenching. With the drains choked, the first track and the long jump run-up were water-logged.

If a few envisaged a wash-out it was not to be as the rains abated. But with the manpower, to do the mopping-up process, conveniently missing, it was left to the joint secretary of the KAAA, A. Rajvelu (a tireless worker for the cause of athletics), and the AAFI technical delegate, C. A. Valson, to take the initiative in the clean up job while the others decidedly put their 'legs up' in the stands.

The KAAA too provided little help to the media as the starting list of participants and the results of the earlier two circuit meets (which was requested the previous day) was not distributed. Bangalore has hosted innumerable meets over the last few years, and the needs of the media are not new to the association officials.

In the recording room too there was a goof up with regard to the results of the women's 400m. If one and all saw Soma Biswas come up trumps in the event with a lot to spare and R. Sukumari finishing second, the result sheet had a different order altogether. Vanaja Somaiah of Karnataka was credited with the first place while Soma Biswas was pushed to the second and Sukumari did not figure in the top four. This did infuriate O. M. Nambiar (Sukumari's coach) no end. However the mistake was pointed out and duly corrected.

Mistakes do happen... but the officials, both at the recording section and those concerned with the press, could take a lot more care in averting dire reactions, like the one witnessed at the end of the junior National athletics, here at the same venue, in January.