Schools athletics running in wrong lane

“I would have done better had there been stagger start,” said one of the girl participants, who got boxed-in and lost the vital ground in the initial stages of the 400-metre race. She added: “Since the officials were unqualified or ignorant about the basic rules, we find it difficult when we take part in the national meet as we develop the wrong techniques at the grass root level.”

One of the sprinters, who did well in 100 metres heats for the senior boys, was also perturbed when he lost in the final due to false start. Said the sprinter: “Two runners jumped the gun (clapper) in the final, but the starter did not recalled the runners. Had there been a proper start, I would have won the gold not bronze.

Since there was no written complaints with the organisers, the education department officials claimed that every thing went smoothly and strictly according to the rules.

“There was no complaint from any quarters,” disclosed Joginder Sandhu, Principal, Government Model School-40, who is sports secretary for the girls section.

Gulzar Singh, Principal, Govt School-22 and sports secretary for boys group also maintained that there was no mis-management. “No one complained about the equipment or the officials.”

However, besdies the spectators, the officials present on the occasion were also witness to a stand start in the girls 100 metres final in under-17 section, which is unheard of in recent times.

The athletes also ran bare-footed. It has been banned by the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI). But the organisers chose to ignore the AAFI rules. It will lead to their disqualification if they compete in the nationals meet bare foot.

Sameer wins
Sameer Bhalla beat Deepak Goel to win the title in the open pool tournament held at Pool Zone in Sector 37.

Manish Srivastava got the third place in the meet.