The Hindu : Federation Cup: many big names missing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 16, 2004

Sport

Sport - Athletics

Federation Cup: many big names missing

By K.P. Mohan

NEW DELHI, MARCH 15. A season-opener, that too in an Olympics year, should have drawn the best in the normal course. Not this time. Many of the big names will be missing in the Federation Cup athletics championships to be held at the Nehru Stadium here for three days from Tuesday.

The immediate task of a majority of those competing here would be to get into the SAF Games squad, scheduled to leave for Islamabad in less than a fortnight from now. All of them should also be striving to make the grade for the Athens Olympics, just five months away. Of course, not many will make it to Athens, though the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) has pegged its hopes high, keeping a list of over 40 probables for the Olympics.

However, injuries and illness have forced the season to get off on the wrong foot, as it were, with several dropouts. A few others have opted out since this meet could not be fitted into their overall preparations for the season.

The biggest disappointment here will be the absence of long jumper Anju George, who wrote a new chapter in Indian athletics history last year by winning a bronze at the Paris World championships.

"This meet will be of no great advantage to us,'' said Anju's husband and coach Bobby George when contacted at Bangalore. "We plan to compete, however, in the circuit meet in Delhi (April 15), for, that will give her one competition at home before she competes in the Osaka Grand Prix,'' Bobby added.

Also missing will be discus thrower Neelam J. Singh, the only other Indian athlete who has the distinction of making the final of a World championships. Neelam is away in South Africa on a training-cum-competition programme.

If the assessment reports from the Patiala camp are to be believed, then Seema Antil looks set to regain her No. 2 slot in women's discus. Even the No. 1 position could be under threat. Perhaps Neelam's absence thus will not be felt. With Harwant Kaur likely to stretch her, in the absence of Neelam, women's discus could turn out to be one of the better contests in this meet. Incidentally, Neelam, apart from Anju, has a qualifying norm to compete in the Olympics. Both have the `A' norm that will enable the AAFI to field a second entry in these events, should that athlete also make the `A' grade.

Cause for worry

It should be with some concern that the AAFI will be viewing the absence of a clutch of prominent athletes from this meet. Heading the list will be quarter-miler K.M. Beenamol, middle and long distance runner Sunita Rani; sprinters Sanjay Ghosh and Saraswati Saha and shot putter Shakti Singh. Needless to say, the two leading athletes who are abroad, discus thrower Anil Kumar and woman high jumper Bobby Aloysius would also be not in the fray.

Beenamol, who missed the entire season last year because of a toe injury, sustained while weight training in Bangalore, was hospitalised at Thiruvananthapuram last December following, what might have been, a viral infection. She was off to Mumbai shortly after that for further treatment and training, but she has not regained her fitness to be in a position to have a crack at the 400m here.

The 400m will hold much attraction in the men and women's sections through the rest of the season, as it always does before a major multi-discipline games, since relay berths have to be contested. Curiously, the AAFI is also talking of the men's 4x100m team making the top-16 grade in the world, an argument that will have very few takers.

There were 14 teams which clocked sub-39-second marks last season (excluding teams that did not represent a nation) and nine more, which clocked better than 39.36s, the Indian National record set in the Busan Asian Games.

Asked about the procedure behind the relay team's qualification, the AAFI Secretary, Mr. Lalit Bhanot explained on Monday that the average of two separate timings in an established meet would be taken into consideration in determining the top 16 teams that would be eligible for the Olympics.

Back to the absentees, Sunita Rani has reportedly gone off to Mumbai for the treatment of a heel injury. Her latest fitness report is hardly encouraging in the Athens context. Saraswati was said to be nursing a hamstring strain and could be running only the relay, while Shakti Singh informed over phone from Patiala that he was not fully prepared to compete but would do so from the first National circuit meet onwards. Both Shakti and the other leading shot putter, Bahadur Singh, have their task cut out, of aiming for the qualifying mark of 20.00 metres. Both will have to touch 20.30m in order to make it to Athens.

The meet is being sponsored by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

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