Usha steals the limelight

Hyderabad, June 21: Former Asian sprint queen PT Usha showed glimpses of her old fire when she breezed through in women's 100 metres at 11....

Hyderabad, June 21: Former Asian sprint queen PT Usha showed glimpses of her old fire when she breezed through in women8217;s 100 metres at 11.55s to steal the limelight in the third Independence Cup circuit athletics meet at the RRC grounds here today.

After rain had played havoc with the schedule on Saturday which forced the Andhra Pradesh Amateur Athletic Association, to postpone and change the venue from Lal Bahadur Stadium to the RRC Ground, where the weather was pleasant.

Despite showers, the cinder track was ready by 12 noon which enabled the organisers to complete the rest of the nine events of the 16-event card. Yesterday, five events were held in rain.

It was Usha who stole the show today with tremendous burst in the sprint event leaving her opponents gasping. She was off the block in a flash and virtually made it a start-to-finish affair with Vanitha Tripathi 12.24 and Sarsawati Day 12.27 fighting for the second and third places. There was a big grin on Usha8217;s face and so were thecoaches.

8220;I ran a good race. I8217;m happy with my timing considering the uneven track and the last minute change of venue,8221; said a beaming Usha. But she was 0.6 seconds short of the qualifying mark.

However, Usha did not run the 400 metres as she did not want to risk any injury on this track.

8220;With the Asian Track and Field Meet ahead, we did not want to take any chances on this track,8221; said coach JS Bhatia, who however, added with Federation Cup to be held in Chennai synthetic track on July 1, Usha would able to run in that meet.

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India8217;s other bet, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar again completed a double winning the women8217;s 1500m 4:23.0s and 400m 54.14s with ease though she did not touch the qualifying marks again.

In the men8217;s 100m, Amit Khanna 10.76s reasserted his supremacy with CJ Durai and Paramjit Singh coming second and third. The 400m event was won by Paramjit Singh who won in 47.94s.

However, none of the participants could attain the qualifying marks in this rain disrupted meet. The nextaction will be at Chennai where the athletes will chance to qualify on the synthetic track.

RESULTS

Men: 400m: 1. Paramjit Singh 47.94 sec, 2. Lijo David Thottan 48.5, 3. Dinesh Rawat 49.50. 3000m: 1. Gulab chand 8.30.01 sec, 2. Harish Tiwari 8.31.10, 3. Ridman Singh 8:47.87. 100m: Amit Khanna 10.76s, 2. C Thiruganan Durai 10.91, 3. Paramjit Singh 10.94 secs. Long jump: 1. Sanjay Kumar Roy 7.36 mts, 2. Amit Saha 7.28, 3. Shankar 6.78 mts. Javelin: 1. Jagdish Bishnoi 71.00 mts, 2. Ramandeep Singh 67.06, 3. Omprakash Dudi 66.70 mts.

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Women: 1500m: 1. Jyotirmoyee Sikdar 4:23.00 sec, 2. Rosa Kutty 4:30.01s, 3. Lovlina Lobo 5:11.01. 100m: 1. PT Usha 11.55 sec, 2. Vinitha G Tripathi 12.24, 3. Saraswathi Dey 12.27. 400m: 1. Jyotirmoyee Sikdar 54.14 secs, 2. Rosa Kutty 55.99, 3. Beenamol 56.32 secs. Javeline: Gurmeet Kaur 49.66 mts, 2. JJ Shoba 35.78, 3. Uday Lakshmi 26.98.