BHUBANESWAR: The scorching heat was not a deterrent for athletes to scorch the track on a day when the mercury touched 44 degree Celsius and it felt like 50 degrees with the humidity. It was like a furnace during the day and not conducive for high-class performances. Though the heat lingered into the evening, it was bearable. The 100m and 400m (both men and women) had dollops of excitement with both men and women setting some good times in the heat and humidity of Bhubaneswar during the Inter-state senior athletics championships.
In the 400m women’s there was some cheer when two women clocked sub-52 seconds in a time when India are searching for a gold-medal combination in the 4x400m relay. India are the defending champions in 4x400m. However, top runners went missing in action or out of form under mysterious circumstances since 2018 Games. Hima Das sustained a career-threatening back injury and has been since struggling to make a comeback.
According to Athletics Federation of India officials, including its coaches, she cannot run 400m because her back cannot stand the stress. Another member MR Poovamma was banned for stimulant Methylhexanamine offence. Others like Sarita Gayakwad suddenly went off the radar and VK Vismaya is not performing well. The federation is looking for a combination that will fetch India medals at the Asiad.
Experienced quarter-miler from Haryana Anjali Devi ran another fast final clocking 51.48s, her personal best, and looking set for Asian Games on her return from a long lay-off. Her previous best was 51.53s and her last run was in 2019. She was followed by young rising star Himanshi Malik 51.76s, also from Haryana. R Vithya Ramraj of Tamil Nadu was third with a timing of 52.49s.
Aishwarya Mishra, who was in the news for evading dope testers last year (she denied of course), finished fourth at 52.79s. All four are below the Asian Games qualifying mark of 52.96s. Though two of them will compete at the Games in 400m, it needs to be seen if all of them will figure in the 4x400m relay team. Anjali is quite elated and said that it had been almost four years since she competed in a meet and it was not easy. “I came with a positive frame of mind and I was here with one thing in my mind to win the race and qualify for the Asian Games.” She also said that these few years had been quite distressing.
“When I had qualified for Olympic Games, just two months before flying for the Games I had sustained an injury,” she said. “These four years were the worst phase in my athletic career. Amit sir (coach) helped me a lot. I am very happy with my performance as I made a comeback with gold and qualified for the Asian Games.”
In 400m men’s it was Sri Lanka’s Kalinga Kumarage who won the gold ahead of Kerala’s Muhammed Anas Y and Muhammed Ajmal. Anas clocked 45.76s, while Ajmal had 45.90s and Amoj Jacob who finished fourth had a timing of 45.91s — all three had better timing than the Asian Games qualification mark of 46.17s.
Despite the heat, the Siva Kumar B managed 10.37s in the 100 metres and Jyothi Yarraji, women’s national record holder in 100m hurdles managed 11.46, a mere .01 second off her personal best. Odisha’s Srabani Nanda finished second with a timing of 11.59s. Himashree Roy was third. “It’s my coach who guides me to participate in which events, accordingly he prepared my training schedule and I do judicially follow that. “My 100m race will help me to improve my 100m hurdles timings tomorrow,” said Jyothi.
Srabani, who will be one of the members of the relay team said: “It’s just six months ago that I returned from Jamaica to participate in different events in India. It’s not easy for me to adjust to the climate. It’s very tough to perform in this climate here now specifically when you are organising a qualifying championship for international meets. They must provide a better climatic condition to achieve better results.”