Focus to be on track athletes

Focus to be on track athletes
S Mageshwaran

Bangalore, July 4: The Amateur Athletics Federation of India has shown some consistency in their thinking, at least for the time-being. Having shifted the second domestic circuit meet from Madurai to Bangalore on grounds of the availability of a synthetic track in the Garden City, the AAFI has justified the change by increasing the number of track events from the previous meet at Nagercoil. Thus, the focus is certainly on the track athletes in the Deepali-2nd AAFI Domestic Circuit Athletics Meet to be held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday.

None would be happier than the quartermilers in either section what with the event being scratched out in Nagercoil due to poor track conditions and Paramjit Singh, Lijo David, P Ramachandran and Jatashankar should be keen to make a mark here.

Anil Kumar, Anand Menezes and Thirugnanadorai have an extra race in 200 metres here, along with the 100 metres, to slug it out. Gulab `Bijli' Chand, the winner of the 3,000 metres in the first meet, an event dropped from the list here, Arun D'Souza and Bahadur Prasad will renew their rivalry in the 1,500 metres.

On the women's side though there are some frustrating news with KM Beenamol (right hamstring) and Sunita Rani (right ankle) advised rest due to injuries. That one misses to see what form Beenamol is in especially after breaking PT Usha's long-standing National record in 400 metres in an international meet in Ukraine last month is certainly disappointing to the athletics buffs.

In Beenamol's absence, it's left to the seasoned Rosakutty-Manjamma Kuriakose-Jincy Philips trio to fight it out for the women's quartermile honours.

Sunita's absence of course will deprive the meet of one of the most promising athletes seen on the Indian scene in the recent past.With National coach Bahadur `Dronacharya' Singh making it clear that this meet is definitely not a selection meet, the athletes can concentrate more on improving their performance without the pressure of the `selectors' eyes'.

There is another carrot for the athletes to show improvement in the form of cash prizes for `best performances.' Unlike in the Nagercoil meet, where all the three medallists received prize money, only improved showings will receive cash awards here. The short notice given to the Karnataka Amateur Athletics Association to conduct this meet having hampered the possibility of finding a sponsor for the meet, the AAFI itself has decided to chip in with Rs 1.25 lakh for the cash incentives.

``But the money will be strictly restricted to good performances. If there aren't any we don't mind carrying it forward to the next meet,'' AAFI vice-president AK Banerjee said on Tuesday.

The throwers continue to have their share of events with the likes of Neelam J Singh and Shakti Singh getting another opportunity to confirm the form they have shown in attaining the Olympic qualifying standards sets by the International Amateur Athletics Federation. Jebeshori Devi will take another crack at the National Hammer throw mark, with the hope of not competing in a `mixed' competition.

There are the usual rivalries to be fought like the Anju George-GG Prameela one in women's long jump and the Ishtiaque Ahmed-Pramod Tiwari one in men's hammer throw, but the focus is undoubtedly on the track athletes, especially on the sprinters.