Gowda to lead challenge

Vikas Gowda,who holds the national record in discus throw,will be the star Indian attraction on Day One of the Asian All-Star Athletics meet at the renovated Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on Thur day.

Gowda,with his season’s best of 63.22m,will be the top contender for gold as Syrian Mansour Hamid,who has season’s best of 57.14,is the only other foreigner in the five-man field. Sri Lanka’s Manjula Kumara Wijesekara,the reigning Asian champion,tops the field among the men high jumpers. He has to tackle Kazakhstan’s Vitaliy Tsykunov,Doha Asian Games champion Jean Claude Rabbath of Lebanon for gold.

In women’s long jump,the Indian trio of M A Prajusha,Mayookha Johny and Reshmi Bose face Uzbekistan’s specialist Tatyana Konichsheva who had a national record performance of 6.81m registered at Tashkent last month. China’s Yang Yanbo and Liu Jing are top favourites in the women’s shot put,while Seema Antil will spearhead India’s challenge.

Tintu Luka is a strong bet in women’s 800m. Indians are also the top draw in women’s 400m with Sini Jose raring to go. Kuwait’s Fawaz Dahesh Al-Shammari is a top contender in men’s 110m hurdles.