Suddenly, Malleswari back in the frame

Olympic bronze medallist lifter Karnam Malleswari, pretty much out of the loop in recent times...

Olympic bronze medallist lifter Karnam Malleswari, pretty much out of the loop in recent times, has been included in the national camp in preparation for the upcoming Asian weightlifting championships to be held in Kanazawa City, Japan, in April. This has raised many eyebrows.

The Indian Weightlifting Federation IWF prior to the Bhubaneswar senior national meet, had announced that performance at that meet will be the main criterion for selecting players for the Asian meet camp. Malleswari wasn8217;t among the participants.

The Sydney Games medallist is among the 14 women lifters selected for the camp beginning January 17 in Patiala. The IWF has also short-listed eight in the men8217;s group.

If current performance was the yardstick for the selection, what was the basis for Malleswari8217;s inclusion in the national camp? She has been far from impressive in recent times. After her no show at the Athens Olympics, she hasn8217;t been able to showcase her talent in international competitions.

In Athens, Malleswari had participated in 69kg. While there was no sign of her illness the day before her competition, or even on the morning of her competition, she failed to lift her first weight on the dais. Today, she does not enjoy that level of fitness.

Supporting Malleswari, IWF secretary Balbir Singh Bhatia said the veteran lifters is in good form which was why her name is in the camp. 8220;She could be a medal winner in Asian competition,8221; said Bhatia. However, in that case she shouldn8217;t have skipped the Bhubaneswar competition.

Malleswari, according to Bhatia, is based in Patiala and training hard. 8220;Her performance is improving,8221; he added.

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The continental competition in April will be the last opportunity for the Indian lifters, particularly the women, to book a passage to Beijing.

But in the Chiang Mai world meet, which was the first competition that Indians had participated in for Olympics qualification, Malleswari wasn8217;t among those selected.

THE PROBABLES

Men: G Elumalai, Railways, K Ravi Kumar Orissa, Santokh Kumar, Manjit Singh Lad Singh Punjab, Pradeep Singh Services, Sarabjit Singh Police and V Kumar Tamil Nadu

Women: M Siva Rani, K Tulasi Andhra Pradesh, Renu Bala, T Inu Rani Channu Assam, Karnam Malleswari FCI, Chitra Chandra Mohan Kerala, Ranu Mohanty Orissa, H Shaya Devi Manipur, A Sandhya Rani, L Monika Devi, Geeta Rani Police, Soniya Chanu, Kavita Devi, Chanchal Yadav Uttar Pradesh