Will she, won146;t she

There are two Indian athletes set for a hat-trick of golds in the 150,000 Asian Grand Prix circuit. There are 11 more from other parts of ...

There are two Indian athletes set for a hat-trick of golds in the 150,000 Asian Grand Prix circuit. There are 11 more from other parts of the world on that mark. There is the possibility of more national records tumbling. Yet the biggest question on everybody8217;s lips, as the third and final GP leg is held here tomorrow, is 8220;will Anju Bobby George be able to qualify for the World Championships?8221;

Almost everyone who distinctly missed her presence at the Baburao Sanas Athletic Track today was asking the question. Anju practised at the Army Sports Institute, 5km from the city centre, and a vague 8220;she8217;s keeping away from the media,8221; was the best possible explanation offered by an official.

This is Anju8217;s last chance to qualify for the World Championships from home soil. She has fallen steeply from her national mark performance of 6.83 m at the Athens Olympic Games a feat she later repeated, but is determined to clear 6.60 m, the standard to book a berth in the World Championships in August.

Anju reached 6.28 m in Guwahati, the second leg, on June 23 but the organisers here hope that if there is no rain she will be able to achieve her goal.

There are hurdles in her way, though. Rains have affected preparations here and there was even this lingering doubt whether organisers will be able to pull it off. But the sky has cleared and the jumping pit, so far covered, was finally open.

The event, being a hurried inclusion 8211; an additional event for the Indian leg of the three-leg series without prize money 8211; has just five competitors which includes Saira Fazal Pakistan and Indian heptathletes Susmita Singha Roy and Priya Devi, all sub 6m performers and local lass Pankaja Kolhe. There is no competition to push Anju.

Lastly, Pune does not have happy memories for it was here last year that 21-year-old Kazaki Olga Rypakova had beaten her. Anju 8211; then ranked No 6 in the world 8212; had managed 6.21 m.

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Anju apart, the other big draw for India will be triple jumper Renjith Maheshwary. He broke Indian athletics8217; longest standing record in Guwahati 8211; 16.79m, set by Mohinder Singh Gill in Freseno US, on May 9, 1971. It was also the first time that the 17 m barrier was crossed by an Indian. It also secured Maheshwary an Osaka berth.

Renjith, so far has scored back-to-back victories over Asian Games champion Li Yanxi of China.

Then there is metric-miler and Doha bronze medallist Sinimol Paulose. She is aiming for a hattrick of golds from the 1500m. So is Maheshwary, two among 13 who are.

Among the others expected to make an impact are intermediate hurdler Joseph Abraham and Vikas Gowda in the discus throw. Abraham, who finished second to Chinese Meng Yan, displayed crack form to complete a sub-50s run in 400m hurdles. In doing so, the Kerala hurdler 8211; who had a 49.52 second effort to his name at Guwahati 8211; cracked his own national record of 50.04 seconds achieved at the Federation Cup in Kolkata in May.

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Gowda will be aiming to land his first gold in the series. He has a personal best of 64.96 m, but he failed to reach anywhere near that in Bangkok and got silver. In Guwahati he got bronze. As secretary Amateur Athletics Federation of India Lalit Bhanot put it: 8220;He8217;s been travelling a lot, which includes coming down from the United States. With a little rest that he8217;s had he sure to do better.8221;