M Sreeshankar does not come across as a lad who understands the import of the magnetic power that he has developed with his growing reputation as a quality long jumper. On Friday at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships, he held a goodly crowd in thrall with his energy even as he kept his mind on sticking to the basics.
Steeplechaser Avinash Sable, who rewrote the meet record, and Sreeshankar combined to reduce a feeling of disappointment that clouded the fans. The premier Indian team entered for the men’s 4x400m – Amoj Jacob, Noah Nirmal Tom, Alex A Antony and Mohammed Anas Yahiya – failed to complete the race as Alex Antony pulled out with cramps.
There was some needless drama as Anas Yahiya, India’s most seasoned quarter-miler, took the baton from the runner of the second AFI team that had taken over the lead after Alex Antony hobbled to the infield halfway into his lap. Order was restored when that second team was disqualified as a result of Anas running the anchor leg for the wrong team.
It has left the men’s relay squad’s chances of staying in the reckoning for the World Championships are hanging by a slender thread. Not having qualified at the World Relays in May, India has been left hoping that no other team turns in a time faster than India’s 3:01.85 in the Asian Games last year and perhaps the 3:01.78 that Botswana clocked in the Commonwealth Games.
It was obvious that the 20-year-old from Palakkad in Kerala was intent on stamping his class and leaving the rest of the field to battle it out for the second spot. The only way he was not winning gold here was for him to commit fouls on each of his first three jumps. That was unlikely to happen after his opening attempt of 7.64m was made from well behind the take-off board.
His second leap was better, 7.83m, and the fans warmed up to the idea of watching an 8m jump in fading light. The third jump was his first foul, overstepping by the smallest of margins. He followed that up with a 7.76m effort. The last two attempts saw the red flag go up but it appeared as if he was happy that his plans for the day were executed as well as he could.
AFI High Performance Director Volker Herrmann was visibly pleased with the response from Sreeshankar’s parents to his proddings. And it was interesting to watch KS Bijimol, a middle distance runner in her time, and Murali come up to the German and exchange travel notes as well as a brief review of the competition on Friday.
Though Sreeshankar had three foul jumps of the six, Murali was happy with the young jumper’s technique here. “Today was better than in Patiala,” he told Volker Herrmann, speaking of the Grand Prix V on August 16 when he hit 8.00m for the first time since registering 8.20m in the National Open Championships in Bhubaneshwar in September last.
Dutee Chand, rueing not having run two hundredths of a second faster in the final of the Asian Championships in Doha to secure an automatic berth in next month’s World Championships, was far from the 11.24-second mark that she was determined to chase down here. She will now have to wait for IAAF to confirm her entry via its rankings and the Federation to make a decision.
Meanwhile, the Athletics Federation of India has decided that the final Indian Grand Prix meet of the season would be held in Patiala rather than in New Delhi. Besides, it would be a two-day event on September 5 and 6, the second day being the last day for athletes to attain qualifying standards for the IAAF World Championships in Doha.
