India146;s Fab Four

Just running on Saturday night was an act of heroism for the 4x400m relay team. The good vibes from their qualifying for the final on Friday...

Just running on Saturday night was an act of heroism for the 4x400m relay team. The good vibes from their qualifying for the final on Friday dissipated soon after when it became clear that one runner was injured and another unwell.

Manjeet Kaur, who ran 49.85 sec for the anchor leg, had to be rushed to the hospital today following high fever. She was put on drip but, according to Lalit Bhanot, secretary of the Athletics Federation of India AFI, 8216;8216;she was determined to run in the final and we respected her wishes.8217;8217;

Bhanot also said that the third leg runner, Chitra Soman, had injured her ankle on Friday night when a runner stepped on it at the changeover zone while taking the baton.

By qualifying for the final, the team 8212; Rajwinder Kaur, K M Beenamol, Chitra Soman and Manjeet Kaur 8212; has ensured the hectic efforts made to get them to Athens have paid off. The deadline for qualifying for the event was July 21 but till June 29 the team had not ranked among the best 16, the stipulation laid down by the IAAF. The last possible meet for the team to qualify was a Grand Prix in Colombo on June 29. Not many teams were willing to participate since they were nowhere near the qualifying mark and did not want to spend money on four runners.

According to sources, the AFI then decided to foot the bill for most of the teams so that the event could be held and India could qualify. The event did take place and the team clocked 3:27.35 to set a national record and, more important, reach the 13th rank to fulfill the IAAF stipulation. And on Friday, the quartet broke their own record with 3:26.89

nbsp;	India seventh

		nbsp;	8226; India finished seventh in the final of the women8217;s 4215;400 relay. The Indian quartet clocked 3:28.51 minutes as USA won the gold.	nbsp;

Barring Beenamol, it8217;s a largely inexperienced team. Their performances are restricted mainly to Asian Grand Prix meets or those in in Ukraine on training-cum-competition tours.

For instance, Chitra Soman 21 had won gold in the Asian GP in Manila in July with Rajwinder getting a bronze. Rajwinder, from Punjab, did put up a fight but Chitra went on to win the gold in 52.84. In a meet in Ukraine, 22-year-old Manjit from Punjab, had pushed her senior colleague Beenamol to the third spot. She won the event in 52.04 sec. Rajwinder had clocked 52.45 with Beenamol timing 52.90.