Helsinki, FinlandThe inaugural TATAAFI national middle distance championship saw world class performances at Jamshedpur on Sunday (7 Aug). Keeping in mind the Asian Championships at Incheon (Korea) in September, the athletes registered their personal bests here.
Indian athletes have won several medals in Asian Games and Championships in the past.
In the inaugural Asian Games (Delhi-1951) Indian duo Ranjit Singh and Kulwant Singh took the first two spots. Athletes Sohan Singh (silver-1954), Daljit Singh silver-1962), Amrit Pal (bronze-1962 and Bugeshwar Singh Barua (Gold-1966) followed suit.
The legendary Sriram Singh, presently a coach, took a silver in 1974 (1:48.3). The famed athlete won back to back in 1974 (1:47.6) and 1978 (1:48.80). He had won the Asian championships at Seoul-1975 (1:47.8) and finished a creditable seventh in Montreal Olympics 1976 with a continental mark 1:45.77, which remains as the Indian national record today!
In 1982 Charles Borromeo clocked 1:46.81—the second best ever by an Indian—for the gold medal in Asian Games at Delhi.
Army-man Ghamanda Ram (21), hails from Rajasthan, clocked an identical 1:46.81 at Jamshedpur. In that process he was pushed hard by Karnataka’s Josemon Mathew (1:48.60) and Tamilnadu’s Francis Sahayaraj (1:48.92). Ram, the SAF Games bronze medalist in 2004 (1500m) become the seventh fastest in Asian 800m lists for 2005..
The Indian women started winning since 1978. Geeta Zutshi won the Asian Games clocking 2:07.7 followd by Asian championships in 1981. Shiny Wilson in 1985 (2:03.16) and 1989 (2:04.76), Jyotirmoy Sikdar in 1995 have become Asian champions. Sikdar in 1998 (2:01.00) and Beenamol 2002(2:04.17) have won the Asian Games..
Tamil Nadu’s S. Shanthi, the national Steeplechase record-holder, won the 800m at Jamshedpur clocking a PB 2:05.39. Punjab’s Rupinder Kaur (2:06.19) and Keralite Sinimol Paulose (2:06.64) finished behind. Sunita Rani, the gold medalist at Busan-2002 finished fourth (2:07.46).
Andhra's Arun D'Souza won the men’s Steeplechase clocking 8.59.51. Bhagawan Diwakar Giri (Uttar Pradesh-9:11.80) and C.D. Basavaraj (Karnataka-9:36.64) bagged the next two positions. The next edition of the championship will be held on August 10.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF