CHENNAI, Aug 24: Domestic Circuit Athletic Meets, the brainchild of the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI), started with the sole intention of providing competition to the leading athletes throughout the year, is, no doubt a step in the right direction.

But one thing is clear, the prize money of Rs 10,000 for each event in the fourth edition slated for Monday at the Jawaharlal Stadium, augurs well from the athletes point of view and for the sport overall.

The AAFI's latest stance to impose a ban of three months on the absentees (exception only on medical grounds) is a stringent move. And the fielding of 60 junior campers preparing for the Asian Junior Meet at Bangkok is yet another welcome move.

The men's 100m line-up seems to have the best in the country. Amit Khanna, who won the gold at the Nationals Games in Bangalore this June with a record timing of 10.54secs, is fancied to do it again. Giving him a hot chase will be Anil Kumar and C Balasubramanian, second and third respectively at the National Games, Thirugnanadurai, the bronze medallist in the Domestic Meets at Delhi and Patiala, and Manoj Kumar, the silver medallist in the Federation Cup at Pune last year.

Paramjit Singh, no doubt, has carved a niche for himself in the 400m. He has won almost all the meets in the past three years. His best performance in the Domestic meets at Bangalore and Chennai last year, was 47.0 secs, manual and electronic respectively. Lijo David, fresh from his European tour last month, along with Abdulla and Basak should make the event interesting.

Shakti Singh seems invincible in shot put and discus, and the records speaks for itself. He holds the National record in shot put (19.08mts) set in the Domestic Meet in Delhi 1995 and the discus record of 61.72 set in Bangalore in 1994.

The race will also be tight in the women's 100m. Rachita Mistry, who won the Gold at the National Games at Bangalore, incidentally holds the best timing in the Domestic Meet too.

Another sprinter making strides in the National arena is V Pandeeswari, the 200m gold and 100m bronze medalists in the Asian Junior meet and the present junior National champion who might pull off a surprise or two.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.