The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Rajeev misses qualification mark

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Monday, Jun 30, 2008
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Rajeev misses qualification mark

NEW DELHI: If winning a race was all that mattered, then the Indian middle and long distance runners had plenty to cheer about in the BMC Nike Grand Prix endurance meet at Solihull, England, on Saturday.

If, on the other hand, they were looking for Olympic qualification marks, then they were in for disappointment once again.

According to information received here, Rajeev Ramesan clocked a career-best 1:47.06 while winning the 800m but missed the Olympic qualification mark by six-hundredth of a second.

For a bunch of runners specifically targeting the Olympic qualification marks on a training-cum-competition programme in England, it turned out to be another agonizing miss. Rajeev was the closest to a standard (1:47.00) while Sajeesh Joseph who finished third behind Englishman Richard Hill (1:47.22) clocked 1:47.48.

This was the third meet in England where Rajeev and Sajeesh had clocked under 1:48.

Poor timings

In other events, Chatholi Hamza finished sixth in the 1,500m in 3:44.70, one of his poorest timings in recent weeks, with Pritam Bind (3:48.77) and Ravinder Sharma (3:56.37) coming 13th and 15th. The Olympic qualification mark stands at 3:39.00.

Sinimole Paulose, looking for a mark of 4:08 in women’s 1,500m to make the Beijing grade, ended up second to Stepahnie Twell (4:09.29) in 4:11.64, a personal best. Sushma Devi came eighth in the women’s 800m, timing 2:05.63.

India had no luck on the qualification front in the distance events as well, though there were some good timings. Surendra Singh, who bettered a 32-year-old National record in the 10,000 metres in the last meet, came up with a career-best 13:45.77, the second fastest by an India behind Bahadur Prasad’s National record of 13:29.70, while winning the 5,000m.

But he was once again short of the Olympic norm of 13:28.00.

In the same race, Sandip Kumar, the other Indian entry, came 18th and last in 14:43.95.

Preeja misses out

In the women’s 5,000m, Preeja Sreedharan, who has already attained the Olympic standard in the 10,000m, came first with a time of 15:45.61 against the qualifying norm of 15:24.00. Kavita Raut ended eighth in 17:09.12.

Indian athletes will compete next at Watford (July 2), Stockholm (July 8) and Cork, Ireland (July 12). Surendra Singh is also scheduled to participate in the Spanish 10,000m Olympic trials on July 12.

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