Vikas, Seema stand tall in the golden field

Om Prakash Karhana, Arpinder, Renjith Maheswary and Mayookha Johny disappoint

December 27, 2014 10:43 pm | Updated December 28, 2014 08:08 am IST

Discus thrower Seema Punia's gold at the Asian Games and silver at the Commonwealth Games gave her reason to smile.

Discus thrower Seema Punia's gold at the Asian Games and silver at the Commonwealth Games gave her reason to smile.

After doping scars marred her early career, Seema Punia had been desperately looking for redemption for years. And when she won the Asian Games gold, the country’s lone individual gold in athletics at Incheon, the discus thrower was able to brush away the bitter memories.

With the Commonwealth Games in Scotland and the Asian Games in Korea, the focus this year was naturally on these two majors.

And while there was plenty of good news, there were some strange lows, loads of surprises and a huge controversy involving young sprinter Dutee Chand this year.

The Commonwealth Games were a bit of a letdown for India, but the country did fairly well at the Incheon Games with discus thrower Vikas Gowda, who had not fully recovered from a shoulder injury, 800m runner Tintu Luka, hammer thrower Manju Bala and race walker Khushbir Kaur bringing silver and the women’s mile relay team — this time comprising Priyanka Pawar, Mandeep Kaur, Tintu Luka and M.R. Poovamma — striking gold once again with a Games record.

Gold field

Unlike the last Asian Games in Guangzhou, where track stars like Joseph Abraham, Preeja Sreedharan, Sudha Singh and Ashwini Akkunji brought India the bulk of the golds, the field events were in the spotlight this year bringing some bright medals at Incheon, including Seema’s gold. All the three Commonwealth Games medals were also picked up from the field.

Vikas, currently the country’s lone world-class athlete and a consistent performer in the prestigious Diamond League series this year, was the big star at Glasgow, taking the Commonwealth Games gold while Seema and men’s triple-jumper Arpinder Singh brought silver and bronze.

Bonus for Tintu, Khushbir

For Tintu, who came up with a series of disappointing performances in the last few majors despite her immense potential, the Incheon Asiad silver in a time that was close to her personal best brought new confidence.

It also came with a stunning bonus — helping her qualify for the next year’s World Championship along with two other women, walker Khushbir Kaur and the gutsy distance runner O.P. Jaisha (a 1500m bronze medallist at Incheon) in the 5000m.

Four surprise medals

While Tintu and Khushbir’s silvers and M.R. Poovamma’s 400m bronze were expected, there were four surprise medals at Incheon. Not even Manju Bala would have expected her women’s hammer throw silver while Tamil Nadu’s Arokia Rajiv appeared stunned with his 400m bronze. Men’s steeple chaser Naveen Kumar and Annu Rani, in women’s javelin, were among the unexpected athletes to medal at the Asiad with their bronze.

The big shock

But there were quite a few who suffered a shocking dip in their performances.

Shot putter Om Prakash Karhana, who had a season-best 19.74m, was three metres behind that as he finished ninth at Incheon.

Triple jumper Arpinder, an Asian leader with his national record 17.17m in the run-up to the Games, was also a big letdown, finishing fifth with 16.41 while former Asian champion Renjith Maheswary could only manage a shocking 15.67. Mayookha Johny, who seemed ready to take over from World championship medallist Anju George a couple of years ago, was another athlete who disappointed, failing to even qualify for the final with a weak 6.12m.

Away from the track, the biggest controversy was the suspension of Odisha girl Dutee Chand for hyperandrogenism, with her natural levels of testosterone so high that track and field authorities felt it would be unfair to allow her to run with female athletes.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in an interim order, has now allowed her to run in the domestic circuit and her case is likely to take some interesting twists and turns next year.

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