Anju Bobby George of India wins bronze in the long jump (© Getty Images)
The cream of Asian athletes will be seen in action at the 3rd annual Asian Grand Prix Series which starts in Bangkok, Thailand on 23 June. The series offers Asian athletes the main remaining qualification opportunities for the Athens Olympics, in particular in the relay events.
Though it was originally planned to have four meets in the series as in the two previous years, Hyderabad had to pull out due to the General Elections in India and other reasons. However, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines would continue to be the host countries for the rest of this year's Asian Grand Prix series as usual..
A total of around 160 athletes, including the best three in Asia for the each event, will take part at all three meets on June 23 (Bangkok), 27 (Colombo) and July 1 (Manila).
However the each of the three host nations can field an additional two members for each event at their respective home meets. On the occasions that there are reduced numbers of entries for some events, the three host countries will also get additional entries.
With over 40 athletes joining them from each of the three host countries, each of the three Grand Prix meetings would have over 200 top athletes competing.
Jayasinghe and George to star
The star attractions will be the Olympic medalist Susanthika Jayasinghe (SRI) and IAAF World championship medalist Anju George. Sri Lankan sprinter Jayasinghe will be looking forward to another medal at the Athens Olympics while Indian long jumper George is set to make her presence felt once more in the big league.
Olympic Relay qualification opportunity
The three-leg Grand Prix Series, will be the main chance for Asia's best to reach the qualifying entry standards of the forthcoming summer Olympic Games.
In particular, Asian Grand Prix Series commission member, Prema Pinnawale said this is the last chance for Asian relay teams to prove their might and get into the Olympic Games.
"Only the best 16 teams could make it to each of the four relays at the Athens Olympics and the Asian Grand Prix would provide them the last opportunity to qualify."
Men's and women's 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams from China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Kuwait and Qatar would provide a good contest in the series.
"They all want to make it to the Olympics and the relays should provide a tough contest," Pinnawale added.
Good financial rewards
Apart from the attractive cash prizes for the top three in each event, the organisers have decided to offer a consolation cash prize for those who secure fourth places in each of the 21 events. The winners of each event would pocket USD 2000 while the second placed would get USD 1000 each. Those who finish third and fourth would earn USD 500 and USD 200 respectively.
The cash awards may not look that attractive compared to the European Circuit or the IAAF Grand Prix series but certainly that is big money for most of the Asian athletes who get limited exposure in the big league. Only a handful of Asian athletes get an opportunity to compete in the best Grand Prix meetings in the world and for most Asian athletes, the forthcoming series is a big event.
21 events at each Grand Prix
All in all there will be 21 events in each of the three Asian Grand Prix meets in the series - nine men's events, eight women's and the four men's and women's 100m and 400m relays.
The Asian Grand Prix Series was launched in 2002 with Hyderabad, Manila and Bangkok as the host cities. Inspired by the three-leg inaugural series two years ago, the Asian Athletic Association decided to include Colombo as an additional host city for last year's series.
Accordingly, Colombo, Bangkok, Manila and Hyderabad hosted last year's second Asian Grand Prix series, which included four meets and was a big success. Asian AA Secretary General Maurice Nicholas has played a key role to keep the Asian Grand Prix Series going.
