Despite a brave run and a season best of 2:00.95, Tintu Luka could not get close to a place in the women's 800 metres final in the World championships on Friday.
It would have been too much to expect young Luka to make it to the final in such a company but the Indian record holder made a great effort down the finishing straight, not her forte, to overhaul two others and take the sixth place in heat No. 2 of the semifinal.
Luka kept close behind the 2007 World champion Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya in the opening lap which went for a very fast 56.53s.
Outpaced
She was outpaced on the back-straight by the rest of the field and coming into the home straight she was last.
Yet, the 22-year-old Kerala woman, a trainee of P. T. Usha, managed to come through ahead of two others, clocking better than the Olympic qualification standard of 2:01.30.
Mariya Savinova of Russia won the heat in 1:58.45 while Jepkosgei took the second place in 1:58.50.
The top two in each of the three heats plus two ‘fastest losers' qualified for Sunday's final. Luka was 15th best on time among 23 finishers.
With her elimination, India has no athlete left in action in these championships.
Luka had qualified for the semifinals as one of the ‘fastest losers' on Thursday, clocking 2:01.89 and finishing sixth in her heat.
The top four in each of the five heats plus four ‘fasters losers' made it to the next round.
Renjith fouls all jumps
Renjith Maheswary, selected by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) despite his poor form this season, fouled all his three jumps in the triple jump qualification round on Friday to bow out of the championships most unceremoniously with a ‘no mark' against his name.
Having recorded only 15.96 in the inter-State championships in Bangalore last June, Renjith's selection should have been doubtful, but to the surprise of many, he was chosen by the AFI.
He did have a qualification standard of 17.07m, his National record, achieved in the last Commonwealth Games where he took the bronze.
Renjith, though an Asian champion in 2007, has a poor record at the global level, finishing 26th in the qualification round in 2007 with 16.38m and 35th in the Beijing Olympics with 15.77m.
Among those ‘afflicted' with the ‘all-foul syndrome', among Indians in the past, had been shot putter Bahadur Singh and discus thrower Anil Kumar in the Athens Olympics and shot putter Navpreet Singh in the Manchester Commonwealth Games.
Karhana 23rd
Disappointment was also in store for India on Thursday when shot putter Om Prakash Singh Karhana went out of contention finishing 23rd overall in the qualification round with 19.29 metres.
He had done 20.04m, his personal best, in a meet in Szombathely, Hungary, to qualify for the championships.
