Rains spoil finale of Asian Grand Prix 2007

Rains spoilt what could have been a better finale for the 2007 Asian Grand Prix circuit here on Wednesday (27).

Intermittent drizzle that at times turned into sharp showers, dampened the spirit of the athletes and left many of athletes still looking for the elusive qualifying standards for this summer’s 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan (25 Aug to 2 Sep).

Nine complete perfect GP tour

Nine of the 13 athletes who were poised for a hat-trick of titles achieved that distinction. Among those who failed was Uzbek Guzel Khubbieva whose response to a late challenge in the women’s 100m by Sri Lankan Susanthika Jayasinghe ended up in pain as she apparently suffered a hamstring strain.

Jayasinghe timed 11.34 seconds while Khubbieva, who seemed to struggle once into the 'box', clocked 11.43. The Uzbek had looked good to complete the sweep till then.

"Having suffered many an injury through the last two seasons I want to go up gradually this season", said Jayasinghe. She felt that the timings in the sprints could have been better had the runners benefited from adequate warm-up. With no warm-up facility at the Baburao Sanas ground, where the meet was held, the nearby Nehru Stadium practice facilities were used but that required athletes being transported in buses to the main venue after warming up and obviously not everyone was happy with the arrangement.

"But you have excellent facilities elsewhere in the country, especially in Guwahati (where she clocked 11.25). I would like to come and train in India next season," said Jayasinghe whose World Championships plans at the moment are geared towards the 200 metres only. She said that she would be doing both the sprints in the Asian Championships in Amman, Jordan, next month.

Abraham benefits as Yan drops out

Another who failed to make it three on the trot was Chinese Meng Yan. He dropped out at the first hurdle in the men’s 400m Hurdles. That benefited Indian Joseph Abraham who beat Kazakh Yevngeniy Meleshenko over the straight for his first title of the circuit.

As in Guwahati, Abraham came up with a sub-50 but said that he was aiming to crack the 49-second mark. "With the Chinese dropping out so early, I slackened a bit on the back," said the 25-year-old Indian.

Short runway hampers horizontal jumps

Among the nine who completed the three-leg sweep, there was birthday girl Xie Limei of China. The triple jumper who turned 22 today had a modest 13.95m for her third gold of the circuit. She had started with an Asian record of 14.73 in Bangkok, but came down to 14.16 in Guwahati.

The short runway that bothered Xie Limei was also the bugbear for Indian Renjith Maheswary and other triple jumpers in the men's section. The 22-year-old Indian who had set a national record of 17.04 in Guwahati won again but was not too happy with his 16.78 during a sharp spell of rain. "I had to cut my strides here and obviously that affected my performance," said Maheswary.

Maheswary marked his third title of the circuit as well as his dominance over Asian Games champion Li Yanxi of China and silver-winner Roman Valiyev of Kazakhstan with his second-round effort. Incidentally, Li Yanxi took just one jump that measured 15.72 metres and passed the rest to end up eighth and last. Compatriot Zhu Shujing had three fouls for a 'no mark' against his name. Valiyev bagged the silver with 16.62m.

Recording one of the better performances on the day was Kazakhstan's Marina Aitova in high jump. She cleared 1.93 metres, the best mark in three meets, to regain her status as the No. 1 high jumper in the field, a position that was eroded in Guwahati when her team-mate Anna Ustinova triumphed.

On a day of low-key performances Chinese Wen Yongyi took the men's sprint in 10.36 seconds, equalling his Guwahati effort, but more importantly beating Thai Wachara Sondee who had spoilt his three-gold hunt for the second year in succession in the second leg. Sondee, in fact came third this time, behind team-mate Sittichai Suwonprateep.

Also clocking a good time was the Kazakh hurdler Anastasiya Vinogradova in the 100m Hurdles. She timed 13.22 seconds to outclass the field and claim her third victory of the series.

Plenty of home success

For the host, there were victories aplenty today. Apart from the ones gained by Abraham and Maheswary, the Indian tally was swelled by the effortless wins of   women's 400m runner Chitra Soman, metric miler Sinimole Paulose who won her third title on the trot, men's 3000m runner Surender Singh, and male shot putter Saurabh Vij who came up with a last-round throw of 18.51 metres to stun Kuwaiti Ahmed Gholum.

For 20-year-old Vij it was a personal best. He had not reached 18 metres on the circuit but had a best of 18.26 this season before coming into this series. Gholum had five throws above 18 metres with his silver-winning 18.38 coming in the second round.

George below-par

The home favourite, Anju George, who was mobbed by the crowds at the end of the day's programme - a sizeable number thronged the ground despite the rains - disappointed a second time by reaching only 6.21 metres in her pursuit of a qualifying mark for the Osaka Worlds. The 6.60 metres standard in Long Jump is looking tougher and tougher for George, who had won India's lone medal, a bronze in 2003, in the World Championships.

George said that the wet runway contributed to her below-par show, but she was confident that she would attain the qualifying standard in the coming weeks. She is scheduled to compete here on Friday in the National Jumps Competition.

The relays provided the excitement to the crowd, though India was once again beaten by China in the women's 4x400m event. China also took the men's 4x100m with Thailand winning the corresponding women's race and Sri Lanka claiming the men's 4x400m.

'Open' events in 2008?

The Secretary of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA), Maurice Nicholas, said on Tuesday that the AAA would consider the possibility of including a few 'open events' in the circuit from next year in order to meet the demands that were coming from different continents. At present the circuit is open only to the Asians.

By an IAAF Correspondent

RESULTS

Men

100m : 1. Wen Yongyi (Chn) 10.38, 2. Sittichai Suwonprateep (Tha) 10.52, 3. Wachara Sondee (Tha) 10.55.
400m: 1. Wang Liangyu (Chn) 46.22, 2. Reza Bouzar (Iri) 46.60, 3. Prasanna Amarasekara (Sri) 46.61.
1500m : 1. Sadjad Moradi (Iri) 3:41.14, 2. Chatholi Hamza (Ind) 3:44.21, 3. Sajeesh Joseph (Ind) 3:44.42.
3000m : 1. Surender Singh (Ind) 8:01.86, 2. Sunil Kumar (Ind) 8:02.02, 3. Ajmal Amirov (Tjk) 8:16.42.
400m Hurdles 1. Joseph Abraham (Ind) 49.86, 2. Yevgeniy Meleshenko (Kaz) 49.94, 3. Kuldev Singh (Ind) 50.94.
High Jump : 1. Kim Young-Min (Kor) 2.15, 2. Hari Sankar Roy (Ind) 2.15, 3. Sergey Zasimovich (Kaz)2.10.
Triple Jump : 1. Renjith Maheswary (Ind) 16.78, 2. Roman Valiyev (Kaz) 16.62, 3.Bibu Mathew (Ind) 16.54.
Shot Put : 1. Saurabh Vij (Ind) 18.51, 2. Ahmed Gholum (Kuw) 18.38, 3. Chatchawal Polyemg (Tha) 17.46.
Discus Throw : 1. Abbas Samimi (Iri) 61.86, 2. Vikas Gowda (Ind) 59.96, 3. Wu Tao (Chn) 56.73.
4x100m relay : 1. China 39.78, 2. Thailand 39.78, 3. India 40.53.
4x400m : 1. Sri Lanka 3:07.31, 2. India 3:08.86, 3. India 'B' 3:10.13.

Women

100m : Susanthika Jayasinghe (Sri) 11.34, 2. Guzel Khubbieva (Uzb) 11.43, 3. Vu Thi Huong (Vie) 11.54.
400m : 1. Chitra K. Soman (Ind) 53.19, 2. Marina Maslenko (Kaz) 53.77, 3. Olga Tereshkova (Kaz) 54.11.
1500m : 1. Sinimole Paulose (Ind) 4:16.56,2. Sushma (Ind) 4:22.58, 3. Svetlana Lukasheva (Kaz) 4:24.33.
100m Hurdles : 1. Anastasya Vinogradova (Kaz) 13.22, 2. Natalya Ivoninskaya (Kaz) 13.45,3. Sheena Atilano (Phi) 13.65.
High Jump : 1. Marina Aitova (Kaz) 1.93, 2.Nadezdah Dussanova (Uzb) 1.91, 3. Bui Thi Nhung (Vie) and Anna Ustinova (Kaz) 1.85.
Long Jump : 1. Anju Bobby George (Ind) 6.21, 2. M. A. Prajusha (Ind) 5.76, 3. Susmita Singha Roy (Ind) 5.72.
Triple Jump : 1 Xie Limei (Chn) 13.95, 2. Li Qian (Chn) 13.56, 3. Rakhima Sardi (Kgz) 13.48 .
Shot Put : 1. Li Ling (Chn) 18.15, 2. Lin Chiya-Ying (Tpe) 16.29, 3. Lee Mi-Young (Kor) 16.29.
Javelin Throw: 1. Phamang Buoban (Tha) 54.89, 2. Xue Juan (Chn) 51.71, 3. Liliya Dusmetova (Uzb) 49.70.
4x100m relay : 1. Thailand 44.00, 2. China 44.07, 3. Singapore 47.53.
4x400m relay : 1. China 3:32.56, 2. India 3:33.79, 3. Kazakhstan 3:42.07.

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