Asian Games athletics preview (part II)

The others:

Jinson Johnson is in the form of his life. Having set national records in the 800m (1:45.65) and 1500m (3:37.86), it is easy to put him as the favourite in both these events. But then, middle distance races often do not go according to personal bests and season bests. These are tactical races in which the better tacticians, and often the best ‘kickers’, succeed.

Two Qataris, Jamal Al-Hayrani (SB 1:45.67) who finished second in the Asian championships last year, ahead of Johnson, and Abubaker Abdalla (1:46.02) will be among the contenders for the 800m gold. Also in the fray could be the Asian champion, Kuwait’s Ebrahim Al-Zofairi (SB 1:47.79), though there is no certainty about the Kuwait entries at the time of writing.

Muhammed Anas has to contend with Haroun who has run seven sub-45 this season alone in the one-lapper. The Qatari’s level of consistency is unmatched in Asia. A World championship bronze medallist in 2017 and Asian champion in 2015, this will be Haroun’s Asian Games debut. The 21-year-old former Sudanese looks on course for the gold.

Hima Das v Naser

Like Anas v Haroun, the Hima Das v Naser duel in the women’s 400m would be worth waiting for. Naser had remained unbeaten this season through six races before being beaten in Monaco by Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas. But Naser clocked a personal best of 49.08s there, a national record.

Having caught the attention of the Indian public, unfamiliar to success of our athletes at the global level, with her stunning display in the World Under-20 championships at Tampere, Finland, in July, Hima would be under pressure to live up to her new tag of the ‘unbeatable’ athlete over the final 80 metres of a 400m race. It would be the biggest shock of the Games if the diminutive Naser is beaten by the 18-year-old Indian who has a best of 51.13s.

Hima Das’s progression through less than one year has left many baffled. It would be wise to wait for a few more years to see where the Assam girl could be headed. She is scheduled to compete in the 200m also in Jakarta though there she might find the going tougher than in the longer event.

A couple of horizontal jumpers among men would be strong medal contenders for India. Long jumper M. Sreeshankar had reportedly crossed eight metres in training in Thiruvananthapuram and there was talk of him reaching 8.40m in the Games. That looks unlikely, though.

With two Chinese having crossed eight metres this season, Wang Jianan (8.47) and Zhang Yaoguang (8.27) in excellent form in the run-up, Sreeshankar’s task is cut out. He had to undergo a surgery before the Commonwealth Games, forcing him to miss what could have been a big moment in his fledgling career. Asian Games provides him another chance. A medal here will boost his morale.

Arpinder up against Chinese

Triple jumper Arpinder Singh who pushed past 17 metres this season after a four-year gap from his then national-record breaking feat of 17.17m in Lucknow, will have to tackle Chinese Zhu Yaming who is a 17-plus jumper and another experienced Chinese Cao Shuo, who has done 16.80m this season. The Indian has worked hard this season to come into reckoning for the highest honours.

 The women’s 1500m runner, P. U. Chithra, who had to endure the agony of being omitted from the team for last year’s World championships, under controversial circumstances, leads the field with her time of 4: 11.55. The line-up looks ordinary and Chithra should have her chance. But as said earlier, middle distance races are hard to predict. In the worst case, the Kerala woman should land a medal.

In distance events, too, India should have good chances in both men and women to gain minor medals. G. Lakshmanan, who already has an Asiad medal, starts in 5000m and 10,000m while L. Suriya and Saniivani Jadhav would be the contenders in the women’s distance events.

Distance events

On the opening day, the two Indian women would be battling with Kyrgyzstan’s Daria Maslova, the double gold winner in the Asians in Bhubaneswar. Once again Maslova should start the favourite though both Indians should fancy their chances of getting onto the podium.

Steeplechasers Sudha Singh (SB 9:39.59) and Chinta Yadav (SB 9:55.41) have been primed after their high-altitude training stint in Thimphu, Bhutan. How much they and others have gained will be known through the next six days. They could be handicapped since there was no competition in Bhutan and they had to just train since the Guwahati meet in June-end.

Bahrain’s Kenya-born Winfred Yavi (SB and PB 9:10.74), eighth at the World Championships last year, leads the steeplechase lists in Asia. She has clocked two other timings below 9:17 this season.

Discus Seema Antil’s form is not known. She had won the lone individual gold for India last time. She took the silver in the Commonwealth Games and then reportedly went off to Russia for training. She had touched a form hitherto not seen at home by crossing 61 metres in Fed Cup. Two Chinese are in top form. Chen Yang (67.03m) and Feng Bin (64.58m), both finalists at Rio Olympics, look poised to regain their country’s supremacy in the event. Chen Yang won the last Asian championships, with a throw of 60.41 while Seema finished a disappointing sixth with 54.11. Seema has an enormous task to defend her gold. How well the relatively unknown second Indian entry, Sandeep Kumari (PB 58.41m) would fare would be keenly awaited. She had to clear the ‘confirmatory trials’ to book her berth in the team. Her name was not even entered in the long list initially and the federation had to make extra efforts to get her name included.

Sprinter Dutee Chand has talked of compensating for her disappointments in 2014 when she was not eligible because of the hyperandrogenism issue. With a best of 11.29s (National record) Dutee is among the top four in Asia this season. Defending champion Wei Yongli of China heads the lists with 10.99s followed by Bahrain’s Hajar Saad Al-Khaldi (11.17s) and Kazakh Viktoriya Zyabkina (11.20s).

The liberal funding provided by the government for 400m runners and javelin throwers in Europe plus the middle and long distance runners in Bhutan, despite the lack of adequate competitions for preparing the athletes towards a competition like this, should show results now. “We couldn’t peak twice, once for Commonwealth Games and for the Asian Games” has often been heard in the past. Coaches know how to bring their wards into peak form for the all-important championships.
The doping menace that threatened to engulf the Indian squad in the run-up to the Games fortunately did not spread beyond a point. The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) did well to test athletes training abroad in Europe and elsewhere though the 'missions' could have been carried out a little earlier than they happened for them to be really effective.
The Commonwealth Games episode of two athletes being expelled from the games because of the breach of 'no-needle' policy must have enlightened the athletes this time of avoiding such incidents. The country's prestige is involved in such games. The IOA has taken enough precautions this time if reports are to be believed. Any repeat of 'needles in living quarters' will only re-establish India as a front-runner in doping in the world of sports.

(concluded)