The Hindu : Sport : Hamza gets another bronze for the host

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Thursday, Oct 18, 2007
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Sport

Hamza gets another bronze for the host

Abhijit Sen Gupta

— Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

Chatholi Hamza being chaired after his bronze-medal winning run.

HYDERABAD: Chatholi Hamza gave India a bronze medal in the men’s 1500 metres in the athletics championships of the 4th Military World Games at the GMC Balayogi Stadium on Wednesday.

The race was dominated by the Kenyan runners Gideon Gathimba and Shadrack Korir, who ran in front of the pack in true Kenyan tradition before leaving the rest behind with a tremendous sprint at the finish. Gathimba proved too good for his compatriot and the latter gave up the chase with about ten metres to go.

Ecstatic

The armyman from the Madras Regimental Centre was ecstatic over his feat. “For the first time I ran against some top class runners and I proved myself. All my hard work has paid off and I am thankful to my coach Nikolai Snesarev who has trained me so well,” said Hamza.

“I was happy that I was able to uphold the honour of the Indian Army and this is a turning point of my athletics career,” he added emotionally. “I was determined to do well in this meet and I have done it. Now I want to improve more,” he said.

Daria wins

Poland’s Daria Rorcrynska had her revenge when she defeated Elena Bolsun of Russia in the women’s 200m final. The Russian, who had won the 100m, was narrowly edged out by Daria in the longer sprint.

“I found the strength to go faster in the final few steps and that helped me to win the race,” said Daria later.

As soon as the race finished, Daria’s compatriot Ewelina Klocek who came third, ran up to the former and embraced her. Clearly the two Polish athletes were very happy with the result.

The results:

Men: 1500m: 1. Gideon Gathimba (Ken) 3:41.01s, 2. Shadrack Korir (Ken) 3:41.56s, 3. C. Hamza (Ind) 3: 42.84s.

Decathlon: 1. Alexey Prozdov (Rus) 7712 pts, 2. Drozdz Marcin (Pol) 7396, 3. Musa Ahmed Hassan (Qat) 7173; 5. Dayaram (Ind) 6629 pts.

Javelin: 1. Baratha Levente (Rom) 77.16m, 2. Mannio Ari (Fin) 76.77, 3. Iltsios Georgios (Gre) 73.23.

High jump: 1. Andrey Tereshkhin (Rus) 2.26, 2. Walerianczyk Aliksander (Pol) 2.26, 3. Shapoval Viktor (Ukr) 2.26.

Women: 200m: 1. Daria Rorcrynska (Pol) 23.44s; 2. Elena Bolsun (Rus) 23.48s; 3. Ewelina Klocek (Pol) 23.73s.

5000m: 1. Arusei Peninah (Ken) 15:42.20s, 2. Nadia Aljufaini (Brn) 15:48.74, 3. Kareena Salah (Brn) 15:53.07s.

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