The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Manjeet Kaur’s injury a big setback for the 4x400m relay team

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Manjeet Kaur’s injury a big setback for the 4x400m relay team

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Indian women’s 4x400-metre relay team will get down to the task of qualifying for the Olympic Games in the Asian Grand Prix series beginning in Bangkok on June 23. Two more meets will be held in Korat (Thailand) and Hanoi (Vietnam) on June 27 and June 30 respectively.

The team, at the moment, is placed 18th in the world, based on the best two timings during 2007 and this year. The top 16 teams will make the Olympic ‘cut’ in all relays. Relay qualification timings can be recorded up to July 16 in pre-designated meets. The Asian Grand Prix series has been designated as qualifying meets by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The 16th best team in the women’s 4x400m relay at the moment, China, has an average of 3:32.25 while Romania, at 17th, has 3:32.95 and India 3:33.59.

India’s best two efforts last year were 3:33.39 at Asian championships in Amman and 3:33.79 in the Asian Grand Prix in Pune.

The team of Mandeep Kaur, Manjeet Kaur, M.R. Poovamma and Chitra Soman clocked 3:30.45 in Yalta on June 7, raising hopes of an easy entry into the top-16 bracket. Though Yalta was a non-designated meet, the quartet’s timing plus the incredible form of Mandeep Kaur, who ran a career-best 51.74 while winning the 400 metres in Madurai, gave enough reasons for the Indian camp to look forward to the Asian GP series.

Task cut out

However, an injury to Manjeet at Madurai has raised doubts about its ability to clock in the region of 3:30. Though Manjeet left for Bangkok with the rest of the 43-member Indian squad, she might not be fit enough at least for the opening leg. The team will have its task cut out in that event.

The relay qualification rankings will keep changing through the next few weeks. Of immediate interest, apart from the Asian GP meets, will be the European Cup to be held at Annecy (France) on Saturday and Sunday plus a series of European league meetings to be held at different centres also on the same days. Germany, Ireland, Slovakia and Sweden, among others, could come in as contenders for places in the women’s longer relay top-16 list from these meetings.

The team for the Asian GP series include:

Men: B.G. Nagraj (100m); K.M. Binu (400m); Sandeep Karan Singh and Naresh Yadav (800m); Kashinath Aswale and Santosh Patel (3000m / 5000m); Hari Sankar Roy and Benedict Starli (high jump); Amarjeet Singh and Renjith Maheswary (triple jump); Satyendra Kumar Singh and Om Prakash (shot put); Kashinath Naik and Anil Kumar Singh (javelin).

Women: H.M. Jyothi and Mandeep Kaur (100m); Chitra Soman and Mandeep Kaur (400m); S.R. Bindu and Priyanka Singh Patel (1500m); Sahana Kumari (high jump); Anju George (long jump); Mayookha Johny (triple jump); Seema Antil and Harwant Kaur (discus).

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