The mystery of the lancers

Eyebrows were raised when the Athletics Federation of India selected three male javelin throwers for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Did we have that much of talent and depth in this event? Was this optimism simply based on the fact that at the 2010 CWG, Kashinath Naik, now a coach, had won the bronze with a throw of 74.29m?

From among the men’s throws, shot put and discus had always been Indian athletics’ forte but not hammer and javelin.

Suddenly we had three javelin throwers capable of rubbing shoulders with the rest of the Commonwealth athletics family.

Incidentally, the Commonwealth standards in throws had been average by world standards , barring a Valerie Adams in women’s shot put or a Steve Backley in javelin, and, more recently, the 2009 World women’s discus champion Dani Samuels of Australia who skipped New Delhi but won in Glasgow.

The situation changed for the better in 2012 when the then World Junior champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago won the Olympic javelin title in London. 

And from a nation that had produced a clutch of world beaters in middle and long distance events (Kenya) emerged Julius Yego, a fourth-place finisher in the World Championships last year with a PB of 85.40.

Yego won in Glasgow, despite Walcott having thrown a world-leading 85.28 (National Record) in the qualification round. Walcott came second in the final.Men’s and women’s javelin in Glasgow had some depth this time with an array of leading stars in the season's charts.

We digress of course. The focus here is not on Yego or Walcott but on our own javelin throwers.

The selection stanadrds

The AFI initially put 77.60m as the selection standard (‘qualification mark’ in AFI’s lexicon). For good measure it sent out a chart to the media on the eve of the Lucknow Inter-State which was the final selection trials. That chart listed the third place and fourth-place marks of the New Delhi Games, Melbourne Games and Manchester Games as though to point out that the federation was being fair to take note of the poor standard of the 2010 Games (third place 74.29) and was keeping the standard close to the 2006 result (fourth place 78.91).

One does not know when the javelin standard became 74.29, the third place (Kashinath Naik) of the New Delhi Games. Even on the eve of the Inter-State meet at Lucknow when some of the correspondents managed to get a “corrected version” of the standards (changes having been made in 16 events), the standard listed for men’s javelin happened to be 77.60.

Ravinder Singh finished first in Lucknow with 78.02, Davinder Singh was second at 76.60 and Vipin Kasana third 75.57. Several days later one heard all three had made the grade and the AFI was expecting a medal, if not two, from the event!

Eighth best

The truth was Ravinder Singh’s 78 was only eighth best in Commonwealth for the season then. There were five athletes with 80-plus results this season. Yet, there was optimism when the team left for Glasgow.

In the qualification round, Ravinder Singh (72.18) qualified in 11th place while Kasana came a slot below at 71.95, the last qualifier. Davinder (70.56) finished 14th and was eliminated. The steep slump was inexplicable. No one cares really in the SAI or Ministry.

Comes the final on Aug 2, the concluding day of the athletics action at Glasgow. In rain it is tough for everyone. Those who follow the unfolding of the results on the web are startled to see an ‘NM’ listed against both Indian competitors. One round gone, second round gone, third round also through. The position remains.

What happened?

The sketchy reports that come in from Glasgow do not help at all. Did they pull out? Were they injured? Was it a case of doping? Did NADA inform AFI late of a doping infraction?

Questions kept coming up till we got some idea about what had happened through this report. 

The above report was updated on August 4 to include the response of the Chief Coach Bahadur Singh who said the athletes were injured.

Today (Aug 6, 2014), The Hindu has quoted the AFI President, Adille Sumariwalla stating that he had asked Bahadur for a report. He also said both the athletes who sat through the competition, passing each of their attempts, were dope-tested in Glasgow. Perhaps at the end of the competition in the final?

Could they have been injured before going to Glasgow? One heard a mention of injuries to both during the final trials conducted to assess their fitness at Patiala on July 12. These were supposed to be fitness trials. Or perhaps the coaches had some doubts at the last moment about the necessity to send three javelin throwers.

It might be rather late for the Sports Authority of India (SAI) or the Sports Ministry to step in to find out the details of this farce. Yet, they should step in.

Bring back Govt-approved selection criteria

And for the future let us have the old-fashioned medical tests and fitness tests prior to a team’s departure. Not just based on what the coaches have to say but also based on what the doctors or trainers or fitness experts, specially deputed by the SAI, have to say after a proper assessment.

Assessment done by a federation quite often remains on paper. Long before such assessments the final shape of a team is determined. No one wants to upset a combination that might have walked in on sheer merit, on regional considerations or on the recommendation of a coach or a group of coaches.

The Sports Ministry has to bring back the selection criteria. As far as one can remember it had not been scrapped, but just discontinued for no rhyme or reason. Quite often in the past one had felt that such criteria were being unnecessarily stressed and stretched when the need of the hour was to assess “current standards” in a particular event which might have no comparison to what was achieved four years ago.

But with at least the AFI setting its own standards (sometimes third place and sometimes fourth place or even as low as the ninth place as has happened with its Asian Games standards just released), it is time the ministry had a re-look at the policy of blindly clearing teams as recommended by the federation.

The idea of packing a team with all possible contestants simply on the argument that someone else was footing the bill can neither provide Indian athletics with the stature that it is looking for nor help the athletes gain the exposure that they sorely needs.

If you get selected despite an injury and sit out a final even as you watch women pole vaulters risking serious injury in the rain, neither the athlete nor the federation will bring glory to the nation.

Mind you, a five-member team, with a lone male athlete in shot putter Navpreet Singh_who eventually fouled all his three attempts in qualification round to end with an ‘NM_returned from the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002 with two medals. Discus thrower Neelam J. Singh, who was  later suspended in 2005 for a doping offence, took the silver, and long jumper Anju Bobby George won the bronze. And there was a fourth place by a gallant high jumper Bobby Aloysius.
This time a 32-member squad brought home three medals, one gold by discus thrower Vikas Gowda, a silver by woman discus thrower Seema Antil Punia, and a bronze by triple jumper Arpinder Singh.

Numbers do not bring in performances or medals, quality does.

NM from past multi-discipline games

• There is a history of “NM” (no mark) for Indian throwers in major competitions, but it always had happened during qualification round and in all instances throwers fouled their attempts or were unable to finish their competition ostensibly because of injury.
• 1.       Shot putter Bahadur Singh Sagoo had ‘NM’ in the qualification round of the Athens Olympics.  2004. He fouled all his three attempts.
• 2.       In the same Athens Olympics, Anil Kumar, discus thrower had another ‘NM’. He did make one attempt that was not registered as he fell and had to be carried off.
• 3.       Shot putter Navpreet Singh had an ‘NM’ in the qualification round of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, 2002. He fouled all his three attempts.