Wednesday, Oct 29, 2003
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Afro-Asian Games
By K. P. Mohan
Ethiopia's Hailu Merkonne (241), who took the gold in the 5000m athletics competitions of the Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Markos Genet (242) and Denis Keter (248) finished second and third respectively. — Photo: Vino John
The thin fields in many of the events notwithstanding, the fare rose up to expected levels especially on the track as the 10-event opening day programme was gone through in front of a gathering, comprising mainly schoolchildren, at the GMC Balayogi Stadium. Hailu Mekonnen knew what his capacity was over the final lap and the finishing straight and he timed his big `kick' to perfection to win the 5000 metres in 13:49.08, probably an all-comers' record. He and Kenyan Denis Keter were left a little behind by his team-mate Markos Genet who started pulling away from about 275 metres to the finish, but the better-known 23-year-old Ethiopian proved too good over the last 90 metres. "I knew my speed over the lap. I have clocked last laps of around 50 seconds quite often in training. The conditions were hot and the track was hard. So we took it rather slow,'' said Mekonnen. The Ethiopian's slow race that left Indians Gulab Chand, who dropped out eventually, and Aman Saini well behind, proved one of the best seen in India and perhaps the best ever. Such records being unavailable, it was not possible to assess also whether Sambu's 45.04s for the 400m could be the best timing on Indian soil. Whether it was so or not, the Kenyan, who won the All-Africa Games title showed his undisputed class while winning from Ali Nagmeldin of Algeria and Sri Lankan Sugath Tillakeratne. The Sri Lankan overhauled K. J. Manojlal through the final 20 metres after having run a fast first half and seemingly faded once into the straight. Talking of timings and all-comers' records, Kazakh Yevgeniy Melshenko's 49.66s for the 400m hurdles was also an excellent effort. Ethiopian women Kutre Dulecha and Birhane Hispata expectedly dominated the 1500 metres, with the latter beating her better-rated team-mate with her final `kick' on the straight. The timings were ordinary, Hispata clocking a 4:17.36, but what was important from the Indian point of view was the victory of Madhuri Singh over Sunita Rani in the mad scramble to the line. It was close at the finish. Sunita, returning to big time competition after the Busan Asian Games and the doping scandal, looked drained over the last 200 metres, though she led and even threatened to take command at times. Bobby Aloysius' silver in high jump came at 1.88 metres, a height that the gold winner, Kazakh Marina Aitova (nee Korzhova) also cleared. On countback, the Kazakh who tied for the silver with Bobby at the last Asian Games, at 1.88m again, had the edge since she had cleared that height on her second attempt. Bobby did so on her third. "I am happy since I was able to clear 1.88 with my corrected technique,'' said Bobby, who has been training under coach Denis Doyle in England this season. The Briton was on hand to see his ward do a lot better than at the Manila Asian championships. There the Kerala woman had scaled only 1.80m for the fourth place. Gurmeet Kaur's silver in javelin was a surprise. The Delhi woman has been having a lean spell over the past two seasons and her 53.37m, though well below par, was able to bring her back into the medals bracket in an international competition after quite some time. The gold went to South African Sunette Viljoen, at 55.49 while the favourite, Chinese Hao Xioayan finished with the bronze with 51.96. The Chinese fouled two of her last three throws. J. J. Shobha led the heptathlon field 3420 at the end of the first day, while South African Justine Robbeson was on 3342 points. Pramila Aiyappa at 3264 was lying third while Soma Biswas (3203) was fourth. The results: Men: 400m: 1. Ezra Sambu (Ken) 45.04s, 2. Ali Nagmeldin (Alg) 45.44, 3. Sugath Tillakeratne (Sri) 45.99. 5,000m: 1. Hailu Mekonnen (Eth) 13:49.08, 2. Markos Genet (Eth) 13:49.61, 3. Denis Keter (Ken) 13:50.41. 400m hurdles: 1. Yevgeniy Melshenko (Kaz) 49.66s, 2.Ibou Faye (Sen) 50.08, 3. Osita Okeagu (Ngr) 50.87. Pole vault: 1. Grigoriy Yegorov (Kaz) 5.25m, 2. Karim Sene (Sen) 5.05, 3. Rafik Mefti (Alg) 4.95. Women: 400m: 1. Estie Wittstock (RSA) 52.09s, 2. Doris Jacob (Ngr) 53.08, 3. Winatho Vassanee (Tha) 53.88. 1,500m: 1. Birhane Hispata (Eth) 4:17.36, 2. Kutre Dulecha (Eth) 4:18.14, 3. Madhuri Singh (Ind) 4:22.32. High jump: 1. Marina Aitova (Kaz) 1.88m, 2. Bobby Aloysius (Ind) 1.88, 3. Marisca Gertenbach (RSA) 1.75. Triple jump: 1. Huang Qiuyan (Chn) 13.50m, 2. Tatyana Bochorova (Kaz) 13.34, 3. Salmata Alima (NGR) 13.00. Hammer: 1. Liu Yinghui (Chn) 68.03m, 2. Zhao Wei (Chn) 65.22, 3. Marwa Ahmed Hussain (Egy) 60.60. Javelin: 1. Sunette Viljoen (RSA) 55.49, 2. Gurmeet Kaur (Ind) 53.37, 3. Ha Xiaoyan (Chn) 51.96.
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