Anil sets the pace at circuit meet, equals National mark

If the National Circuit athletics meet was looking for building its reputation, sprinter Anil Kumar added some lustre to it in the first mee...

If the National Circuit athletics meet was looking for building its reputation, sprinter Anil Kumar added some lustre to it in the first meet of the season itself with a speed burst that equalled his own National record in the 100 metres set at Chennai in 1999. The reigning champion who said he was “tensed” before the race at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium repeated his National record of 10.33 seconds on Wednesday to win the gold.

Anil Kumar at the Nehru Stadium on Wednesday. (Ravi Batra)

The surprise element of the meet was, however, 30-year-old Poonam Tomar, who emerged as the fastest woman of the meet with a timing of 11.56 seconds. It was her best career effort but it is an irony that she has been ignored for the National camp preparation for the Asian and the Commonwealth Games. After the race, Tomar said “I am not worried about not being selected for the camp, as long as I am in sight of my goal.” Tomar is based in Delhi and trains under her husband, Naresh Pal, who is a coach with the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

On the other hand, Anil Kumar, who is aiming to clock 10.1 seconds at the Asiad to be held at Pusan in September, was happy to be in the limelight. He said he was under pressure as he expected tough competition from Amit Saha of Bengal. “Amit had been performing well in the camps and unfortunately I didn’t have much time to train due to an injury. But I am surprised with my timing here,” said the National champion. In fact, the 100 metres race got off after two false starts but Anil was quick to burst into the lead after the 60 metres mark. “I went flat out in the first half but once I saw that I had the race in my pocket I slowed down a bit,” Anil added.

One good sign from the performance in this meet was that there were few signs of rustiness among athletes considering that this was just the start-up to the season and most of them were competing in a National meet after a long gap. There are positive signs to read in K Beenamol’s 52.19 seconds in the women’s 400 metres, which came close to the National record (51.21) and Neelam Jaswant Singh’s throw of 59.10 is also commendable (National record 63.02).

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In the men’s 400m, Haryana’s Bhupinder Singh created an upset when he pipped fancied Manoj Lal of the Services and Tamil Nadu’s P Ramachandran. Bhupinder clocked 46.11 seconds to win the gold.

RESULTS

Men: 100M; Anil Kumar (SSCB) 10.33s, Piyush Kumar (Dli) 10.55, Amit Saha (Ben)10.55. 400M: Bhupinder Singh (Har) 46.11s, Manoj Lal (Ker) 46.23, P Ramachandran (TN) 46.51. 800 m: KM Binu (Ker) 1:49.79, H Patel (MP) 1:50.76, Tej Karan (MP) 1:50.76. 5000 m: Sivananda (Rly) 14:35.67, N Gojen Singh (Pol) 14:37.50, Jaganath Lakade (Ser) 14:46.97.

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