Bobby Aloysius jumps 1.91 in Chennai, India (© Krishnan)
India will send a team of five men and fourteen women to compete in the track and field competitions at the Olympic Games in Athens.
Men
Amritpal Singh (6 Oct 1983)
Men LJ: 8.08 PB/SB, Mar 16, New Delhi
National Record; which bettered the long standing 8.07 by Tehran Asian Games winner T.C. Yohannan's 30 year-old mark! But Singh was injured his legs while competing in SAF Games at Islamabad and hence is unlikely to make the trip to Athens.
K.M. Binu (20 Dec 1980)
Men 400: 45.59 PB/SB, Apr 15, New Delhi
The second best Indian mark all-time. Binu is the brother of K.M. Beenamol--she was a semi-finalist in Sydney and is now going to Athens as a relay reserve. Binu was 3rd in the Asian juniors at Singapore 1999.
Bahadur Singh Sagoo (7 May 1973)
Men SP: 20.40 PB/SB, May 20, Kiev (Ukraine)
Won the Gold in Men's in Asian Games at Busan 2002.
Vikas Gowda (5 July 1983)
Men DT: 64.35 PB/SB, May 19, Salinas (California) while 7th in the Hartnell College championships. He was 8th in SP and 12th in DT at World Juniors in
Kingston 2002.
Anil Kumar (20 June 1975)
Men DT: 64.37 PB/SB/NR, July 17, Szombathely (Hungary)
To date his other bests (all less than Olympic A std) in 2004 were 63.88 on July 3 at Varazdin and 62.15 on July 18 at Veszprem. Anil was 2nd in 1998 Bangkok Asian Games and winner of Jakarta Asian Championships in 2000.
Women
Anju Bobby George (19 Apr 1977)
LJ: PB: 6.74 (2001 & 2002)
SB: 6.66 Apr 15, New Delhi (also 6.83w June 19, Eugene, Prefontaine)
The world bronze medallist from Paris Saint-Denis is the best rated athlete for a podium finish at Athens. 7th in world indoors at Birmingham, Anju won the Asian Games at Busan 2002 after claiming a bronze in the Commonwealth Games at Manchester.
Manjit Kaur (4 Apr 1982)
400: 51.05 PB/SB, June 16, Chennai
She was 2nd in the Asian juniors at Brunei 2001
Chitra K. Soman (1983)
400: 51.30 PB/SB, June 16, Chennai
She was 2nd in the SAF Games at Islamabad 2004
Neelam J. Singh (8 Jan 1971)
DT: PB: 64.55 (2002)
SB: 63.99, June 23, Songkhla (Thailand). Winner of Asian Games 2002 at Busan and Asian Championship 2000 at Jakarta, Neelam was the first Indian to qualify for a final in the World championships. She secured a silver medal in the
Commonwealth Games at Manchester in 2002 and also have a bronze medal from the Asian Games at Bangkok 1998.
Seema Antil (27 July 1983)
DT: 64.64 PB/SB, June 16, Chennai
Seema was the first ever Indian winner in the World Junior championship in Santiago de Chile in 2000. She claimed a silver in the Asian juniors in 2001 and finished 3rd in the next world juniors at Kingston in 2002.
Harwant Kaur (5 July 1980)
DT: 62.61 PB/SB, June 6, Kiev (Ukraine)
She was 4th in SP and DT in the Asian Championship at Jakarta 2000.
Bobby Aloysius (30 May 1974)
HJ: 1.91 PB/SB, July 18, Chennai
Trained in Russia and then in England, Bobby was 4th at Commonwealth Games in 2002, she went on to claim two silvers in the Asian Championships (Colombo) and Asian Games (Busan) later that year. She added two more silvers from Afro-Asian Games (2003) and Asian Indoor (2004).
Saraswati Saha (23 Nov 1979)
200: PB: 22.92 National Record 2002
SB: 23.07, July 23, Bangalore
The silver medallist in 100m at Asian championships at Jakarta 2000 was the last Indian to qualify for the Athens Olympics on July 23.
Soma Biswas (16 May 1978)
Heptathlon: PB 6186pts in 2000 in Inter-St Chennai (31 Jul)
(13.62 1.69 13.22 24.23 6.19 44.92 2:11.67).
25th Sydney Olympics. 2004 national champion (6162pts)
J.J. Shobha (14 Jan 1978)
Heptathlon: PB 6211pts National record in 2004 in New Delhi (17 Mar) (13.71 1.69 12.52 23.53 6.50 44.16 2:16.40)
4x400m Relay:
Apart from Manjit Kaur and Chitra K. Soman, Rajwinder Kaur, K.M. Beenamol, S. Geetha and Sagardeep Kaur will make the team.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
