Anjali Devi’s 51.53-second sprint sets track ablaze

The eyebrows arched high, some in delight and others in question, almost as soon as Haryana sprinter Anjali Devi crossed the finish line of the 400m in the National Inter-State Athletics Championships here on Thursday. Her knack of springing surprises – shocks, some would say – came to the fore a second time in a year.

She stunned everyone with a 51.53 second effort, beating Saritaben Gayakwad (Gujarat) and Jisna Mathew (Kerala) by a distance. In the process, the 20-year-old who has been missing in action for five months owing to a heel injury and its rehabilitation became the first athlete to meet the IAAF World Championships qualifying standards in three days of competition here.

She had announced her entry on the quarter-mile scene with a sub-52 second run in the National Open Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar in September last. But that time of 51.79 seconds seemed a flash in the pan after she was unable to come close to replicating such a performance in February and March ahead of the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha.

Despite training for months with the Indian squad in Antalya, Turkey, she was unable to secure a time below 54.50 seconds in four starts. With a 56.40 in the Federation Cup on March 17, she went out of reckoning. She got a local doctor to help her recover from an ankle problem and trained to be able to show the form that would ensure her flight to Doha for the World Championships.

Not a few observers in the athletics fraternity whispered about the stunning return. There was no evidence of that when she ran 54.63 seconds in the semifinal heats on Wednesday. That time seemed par for the course for someone who was returning from injury. But in an almost miraculous manner, she became the first Indian woman to break the 52-second barrier this year.

Saritaben Gayakwad, who was sent from the National camp in Spala, Poland, to compete in the event, nudging Jisna Mathew to third place. But both these athletes will wonder how they let Anjali Devi storm to a such a big lead on the home stretch. Of course, the Haryana sprinter was losing pace too but not as quickly as her rivals.

In a sad footnote, the eyebrows remained arched as a reaction to the approach of the National Anti-Doping Agency Dope Control Officer to collecting Anjali Devi’s sample. Having notified her immediately after the race that she would need to submit her sample, the DCO let her with her coach Rohtas Siwaich and even make a trip to the wash-room before himself restoring contact with her, only to leave her out again while she waited for the victory ceremony.