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Tintu eyes good show at World juniors

Principal Correspondent

SATISFYING OUTING: P.T. Usha feels that it was a creditable effort by Tintu Luka to win two medals at the Asian junior athletics meet in Jakarta.

KOZHIKODE: Tintu Luka, fresh from her fine show at the Asian junior athletics meet in Jakarta where she picked up two medals, has set her eyes on the World junior championship to be held in Poland next month. According to her coach P.T. Usha, she stands a good chance in the 800m.

“She has to run better than she did at Jakarta, where I was expecting the gold from her,” said Usha at a press conference here on Wednesday.

“Still it was a good effort from her, as she won the bronze in 800m and the silver in the 4x400m relay. She has clocked 2:05.21 in 800m, which is pretty good for an 18-year-old.”

Tintu, the brightest prospect at the six-year-old Usha School of Athletics, said her aim was the 2012 Olympics. “My dream is to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics.”

Usha said Tintu would begin training shortly at the Infosys campus in Mysore for the World juniors.

“Mohandas Pai of Infosys, who has always been a great supporter of my school, had called me up to say that we could use their synthetic track for our training.

“Ideally, we should have a synthetic track at our school, but since it costs something like Rs. 5 crore, we cannot hope to build one on our own in the near future, unless somebody comes forward to help us out. A synthetic track at the school would go a long way in improving the performances of the trainees.”

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