The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Beenamol gets ready for a comeback

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 18, 2004

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Sport - Athletics

Beenamol gets ready for a comeback

By K.P. Mohan

PATIALA, APRIL 17. In an Olympics year, one would have expected a rush at athletics competitions; a whole-hearted approach towards attaining qualifying standards and a keenness among the athletes to assess themselves in tougher battles.

For some strange reason, however, Indian athletes are shunning competition. Not an entirely new phenomenon, some might say, and yet a baffling one when you consider the anticipated `feel-good' factor in the post-Busan Asian Games phase.

The apathy of the athletes that led to the deplorable sight of just three or four contestants in some of the events in the first National circuit meet in Delhi on Thursday, all but forced the cancellation of the second meet scheduled to be held here on Sunday. That it was salvaged at the last moment, through a mix of persuasion and threat, should in no way lead us to believe that the athletes are raring to go.

Yes, some of them are; the others are just going through the motions, especially when they start realising that their chances of figuring in the Athens Olympics team have receded beyond hope.

Basically thus, it all boils down to one thing: Olympics qualification. In the race towards qualification, personal bests are being re-written and National records have been bettered and others have come under threat, projecting a `healthy' picture of the sport itself. Yet, if past experiences are anything to go by, such optimism is quite often misplaced.

The Sydney Olympics was a classic example of Indian athletes raising hopes sky-high only to come down to the reality the hard way. The exception was K.M. Beenamol. An excellent series of timings took her to the semifinals and into world media focus before she went out.

Four years hence, Beenamol is at the crossroads; yet to get back into competition since last year and undecided about which event she should concentrate on, the 400m or the 800m. She holds the National mark of 51.21s in the 400m and had won the gold at the Busan Asian Games in the longer event.

Beenamol will test herself out in the 800 metres here on Sunday. "I don't know where I stand, I haven't raced for more than a year. I haven't done much speedwork and thus there will be no point in running the 400m,'' she said on Saturday evening.

There was a touch of apprehension as she looked at her prospects for the rest of this important season. The 2:01.30 in the 800m, the qualifying standard for Olympics (`B' norm) is better than her personal best of 2:02.01. It is not beyond her, but tough.

Having lost precious time last year due to a toe injury and again this year following a viral infection, Beenamol is not exactly in a position to pick and choose. She can opt for the 400m and hope to get into the relay team, though the team's qualification will not be known till July-end. The best 16 relay teams in the world will make it to the Olympics.

In the individual qualification race, Manjit Kaur already has a 51.90, Rajwinder 52.01 and Sathi Geetha 52.25. The single entry qualification mark is 52.30 while for two or three entries all will have to clock 51.50 or better.

Even as Beenamol is weighing her limited options for the Olympics, younger brother K.M. Binu has raised the pitch in the men's 400m contests with an awe-inspiring 45.59s in Delhi, that happened to be the second fastest ever by an Indian behind the National mark of 45.56s held by Paramjeet Singh.

Binu will not run the 400m here, but will go back to his forte, the 800 metres. The only problem: There is hardly anyone who can provide him a challenge. In fact, there might just be one or two other competitors to run alongside him. Only four ran in Delhi where Binu skipped the event.

Binu is already inside the Olympic qualifying mark of 45.95 in the 400. In the 800m he will have to aim for 1:47.00, which is 0.52s better than his personal best.

The Bahadur-Shakti duel in shot put and that between Neelam J. Singh and Harwant Kaur in women's discus will be revived. These are two of the events where the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has hopes of getting more than one qualifier through to the Olympics. Eventual selection will be another matter, though.

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