Last chance for Sydney hopefuls

CHENNAI, JULY 28: India’s Olympic hopefuls will get one last chance to book their berth to Sydney. The added bonus will be a slot in the Asian Track and Field Meet in Jakarta in August. In short, it is the `either’ `or’ situation for the athletes as they brace up for the 42nd inter-State athletics meet, to be hosted by Tamil Nadu Amateur Athletic Association and sponsored by Indian Oil Corporation, at the Nehru Stadium from July 29 to 31.

The two notable absentees will be middle distance runner Sunita Rani and the athlete for all seasons, PT Usha, though for different reasons. A stress fracture has come in the way of Sunita while an exasperated Usha has called it a day, this time not with tears flowing.

True, some of the athletes had already achieved the qualifying norms. But what should inspire them is the speed of the track, always having a reputation to throw overboard a few records.

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The best news for the athletes will be the Amateur Athletes Federation of India’s (AAFI) decision to have two sets of qualifying marks.

Some of the key names are Neelam Singh (discus), Beenamol (400m) and Bobby Aloysius (high jump). Neelam did well to attain the qualifying mark at Nagercoil getting to a personal best of 61.37m.