The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : India draws a blank on day two

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 17, 2006

Sport

Sport - Athletics

India draws a blank on day two

MACAU: India drew a blank on the second day of the Asian junior athletics championship here on Sunday, a day that highlighted the Chinese dominance once again.

Of the 10 gold medals at stake, China bagged five, with Oman taking two and Saudi Arabia, Japan and Uzbekistan one each.

For India, which has so far won just one silver medal, it proved a disappointing day though it must be admitted that the country did not have too many athletes in line for a medal.

The best medal prospect for India on Sunday, M.R. Poovamma, the quarter-miler from Karnakata, was disqualified for lane violation in the 400 metres final after she finished third. She took two steps into lane three from four near about the 270-metre mark and paid the penalty. The gold and silver went to Chinese athletes while Irina Zudikhina of Uzbekistan claimed the bronze.

Sini Jose finishes sixth

The second Indian entry in the event, Sini Jose finished sixth in 57.49 seconds, which when viewed against her trials timing of 55.51seconds was a significant slump.

After having raised hopes of a medal in the heats on Saturday, India's Virender Kumar Pankaj disappointed in the 400m final, finishing fourth in 48.11 seconds. The other Indian runner, V.B. Bineesh ended sixth in 49.07 seconds.

Pankaj had timed 47.52 seconds in the heats, being the fourth best into the final, while Bineesh had clocked 49.07 seconds. Back home, Pankaj had returned a timing of 47.51 seconds in the trials in Delhi.

Mandeep Kaur, tipped to be a medal contender in the women's 200 metres, had failed miserably in the heats on Saturday, finishing in 25.94 seconds. Bhupinder Singh finished fourth in decathlon with 6538 points, while Sangeeta Yadav was fifth in women's 5000 metres in 18:08.27 seconds.

The results:

Men: 200m: 1. Abdullah Alsooli (Oma) 21.44 seconds, 2. Mohammed Alrawahi (Oma) 21.58, 3. Liu Xiongwei (Chn) 21.78. 400m: 1. Mohammed Alrawahi (Oma) 47.40, 2. Reza Bouazar (Iri) 47.57, 3. Mitsuhiro Abiko (Jpn) 47.83. 3000m steeplechase: 1. Ali S. Al Amri (KSA) 8:42.94, 2. Thamer Kamal Ali (Qat) 8:43.09, 3. Salem Saeed Malek (Qat) 8:57.86. Long jump: 1. Zhang Xiaoyi (Chn) 7.78 metres, 2. Noriyuki Sakurai (Jpn) 7.62, 3. Mohammad Arzandeh (Iri) 7.59.

Women: 200m: 1. Chen Jue (Chn) 24.19, 2. Ghofran Al Mouhmad (Syr) 24.45, 3. Kunya Harnthong (Tha) 24.74. 400m: 1. Li Xueji (Chn) 53.43, 2. Chen Cuiyu (Chn) 54.80, 3. Irina Zudikhina (Uzb) 55.72. 5000m: 1. Nami Matsuda (Jpn) 16:10.95, 2. Kareema Jassim (Brn) 16:24.28, 3. Kim Jong Hyang (PRK) 16:49.86. High jump: 1. Svetlana Radzivil (Uzb) 1.90 metres, 2. Yekaterina Yevseyeva (Kaz) 1.88, 3. Nadiya Dusanova (Uzb) 1.84; Javelin: 1. Zhu Jingya (Chn) 55.54, 2. Zhang Ying (Chn) 55.14, 3. Momoko Matsumoto (Jpn) 53.19. 10,000m walk: 1. Li Cui (Chn) 49:28.11, 2. Chai Xue (Chn) 49:28.45, 3. Fumika Kiryu (Jpn) 50:08.14.