AFI's selection exercise set for its finale

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI ) selection committee is meeting  in New Delhi on Tuesday, July 1, the second time in less than a month, to pick the team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The federation has to submit its final entries by July 7.

As usual the AFI has stretched its options right up to the last minute. And quite expectedly, the composition of the relay teams have not been determined, though it has been argued, and it is most likely also, that all the four relay teams would make it to Glasgow, irrespective of whether they achieve the standards prescribed by the federation or not.

Having amassed a dozen medals, a record for India, at the last Commonwealth Games at home, and followed it up with a splendid show in the Guangzhou Asian Games, there should not have been any doubt about Indian athletics’ stature or potential this time.

But things did not go well in 2011_a year of doping scandals_ with India managing only a lone gold medal in the Asian championships at Kobe, Japan. The country just improved on that in the championships at home, at Pune last year, by taking two gold medals.

There surely was an encouraging performance by our athletes at the London Olympic Games with discus throwers Vikas Gowda and Krishna Poonia finishing within the top eight and walker K. T. Irfan ending up 10th.

Unimaginative calendar

That should have set the tempo this year. Unfortunately it has not.  The calendar has been designed unimaginatively, not for the first time in recent years, one would say, with the athletes  given a solitary chance to aim for qualification marks (actually selection criteria) in 46-48 degrees Celsius temperatures in Lucknow at the beginning of June. And a few domestic Grand Prix meets were scrapped in a year when the Asian Association also failed to organised its annual GP meets.

There was quite a bit of confusion about the standards also with two sets in circulation as the meet began in Lucknow.  The athletes should have been given at least six months’ notice about the standards and at least three meets to achieve them. Even now there is no clarity as to which standard would prevail nor is there any certainty about the relay teams being asked to clock at least timings close to the prescribed norms.

If the achievements of the Indian relay teams in the New Delhi CWG_where India took two stunning sprint relay medals_ are being taken into consideration it must be admitted that the standards in those games were rather poor because  a large number of top athletes  stayed away from the meet.

Where we stand

Assuming that there would be no relay trials to assess each team since time has practically run out on the AFI, let us just have a look at where we stand this year and from an overall perspective in the relays.

In the men’s 4x100m, the AFI standard has been kept at 39.35s, and not the incredible National record of 38.89s that India clocked at the New Delhi games for its memorable bronze medal. In subsequent years, the best Indian timings for the event have been (not necessarily by national teams) 39.94 (2011), 39.51 (2012) and 40.14 (2013).

The national sprint relay team did not finish the race at the Asian championships at Pune last year, thus depriving us of a reasonable yardstick to assess the standards and the assumed current potential.  The inter-State results show that only Krishna Kumar Rane, who won, clocked a sub-10.40 by turning in a 10.32. There was one 10.52 and two others were over 10.60s, quite ordinary by international standards.

Not in top eight

At around 39.51, going by the 2014 lists India will not figure in the top eight among Commonwealth countries.

In the men’s 4x400m, the target is a stiff 3,03.97. India’s best in recent times had been the 3,06.01 for the fifth place that the team clocked at the Pune Asians. The top eight Commonwealth teams this season have clocked below 3 mts 05 secs with the Bahamas topping the current charts at 2,57.59.

Though in the two previous Games  the bronze medal went for sub-39-second efforts, the AFI chose to  stick to a much poorer 45.25 that the Indian women clocked in Delhi as the criterion for the 4x100m. With the current form of Saradha Narayana (11.39s) and H. M. Jyothi (11.49s) this could be an attainable target but someone will need to put the girls through with a stick in hand to see how things turn out.

The Indian team minus Saradha and Jyothi clocked 45.03 at Pune for the fourth place in the last Asian championships.

The top eight Commonwealth team have timed below 45 secs this season, with Jamaica topping at 42.28s.

It is the women’s 4x400m team that has in recent years held out great hopes for India, especially after its outstanding success in 2010 when it took the gold medals in the CWG and the Asian Games. The target of 3,32.23 for the 1600 quartet should be achievable for the Indian girls. India had clocked 3, 32.26 while winning the title at the Pune Asians and it now has a sub-52s runner in M. R. Poovamma.

Where does the team stand in the CWG calculations? Jamaica and Nigeria have clocked sub-3,24 this season while another four teams have timed better than three minutes 32 seconds. It is not illogical for an Indian team to aim for a medal, though. But it will be tough to pull it off even with Poovamma and others running at their best.

Trials before departure?

Hopefully there should be no trials on the eve of the departure of the team (around second week of July)  or for that matter at the Games Village! India has had such dubious distinctions in the past. The top six from Lucknow should make it unless there is a question about fitness or an unfavourable dope report.

The argument about relay teams being given a chance at Glasgow is that they do not get opportunities and this could well be a good experience in the run-up to the Asian Games. Plus, the CWG Organising Committee is going to foot bulk of the bill for the contingents and thus there would be no necessity to plead with the Union Sports Ministry.
Still the fact remains that it is 'India' which will figure in the reports and it is the country's name that matters. And when it comes to that, the government has the power to scrutinize the credentials of a team no matter that someone else is footing the bill.

Incidentally, the ministry no longer considers selection criteria as defined in the Government guidelines though nothing had been officially scrapped. The practice seemed to have been given up when Olympic qualifications were determined by the international federations either through qualification standards or qualification competitions or through quota places. The system did not apply to CWG and Asian Games, but the ministry, in its most liberal mood, tended to ignore criteria and mostly went by the recommendations of the federations.

There is some talk of including triple jumper Renjith Maheswary in the  CWG team though he did not meet the standard of 16.83m at the Lucknow meet. If he is being given another trial then some of the others may have to be given the same opportunity though there might not be too many claimants for a slot.

Shot putter Om Prakash Singh, asked to aim a standard of 19.79 in any IAAF-recognized meet abroad has so far managed only  19.02 this outdoor season. Krishna Poonia, defending champion in women’s discus, has come close to the norm of 58.39 with a performance of 58.26 at Chula Vitsa, California. Since India is expecting two medals in women’s discus (Seema Antil has already made the cut), Poonia is certain to retain her place.

Hammer thrower Kamalpreet Singh who achieved a national record of 70.58m (to be ratified) in the US, and high hurdler Siddanth Thingalaya are also likely to be considered apart from those already selected by the committee at its meeting on June 9.