Sport - Athletics   

China, Japan not to take part in Asian Grand Prix

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD MAY 24. Chinese and Japanese athletes will not be taking part in the Asian Grand Prix athletic championships, which are to be held at the GMC Balayogi stadium here on May 28. This was confirmed at a press conference addressed by Mr. L.V. Subrahmanyam, VC and MD of SAAP here on Saturday.

However, athletes from other countries including Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, Phillipines and Oman will arrive in Hyderabad from May 26.

Mr. Subrahmanyam said that all necessary steps would be taken to screen athletes for SARS. They will be screened on arrival in India and then again in Hyderabad.

To ensure accuracy in judging the finish of the races, photo finish equipment would be installed but Mr. Subrahmanyam stated on record that SAI should have been more supportive of its cause instead of charging commercial rates for providing the photo-finish equipment.

Last year, India had made a clean sweep of medals in the men's shot put event but this time this event will not be part of the competitions. It was disclosed that the Asian Athletic Association, which decides on the events that are to be conducted, scrapped men's shot put.

And in this regard, Mr. Subrahmanyam expressed helplessness that the local organisers had no say in the matter. He also said that dope testing would be carried out in a meticulous manner but it would be the responsibility of the AAA to ensure that this aspect was handled in a perfect manner.

Young trainees of summer coaching camps will be encouraged to visit the venue and special buses have been arranged for them by the APSRTC.

The organisers have appealed to the public and also to the railway and army sports control boards to send their sportspersons in large numbers to witness the meet since this would give them an opportunity to learn by watching top class internationals in action.

A list of participants who have confirmed their entries was also released at the press conference. The list includes Sri Lankan stars Susanthika Jayasinghe, Damayanthi Darsha, Sugath Tillekaratne, and Rohan Pradeep Kumara. Olympian Susanthika had not taken part in last year's meet here but Damayanthi Darsha had won a double by lifting gold in the 400m and 100m.

Highly rated Tillekaratne however had to be satisfied with silver in his pet event - the men's 400m, while Pradeep Kumara had got the bronze.

Other well-known names who will be defending their titles include Yelena Koshchyeva of Kazakstan in women's long jump, Sergey Voynov of Uzbekistan in men's javelin, Fawzi Al Shemmeri of Kuwait in men's 400m, and Reanchai Sriharwong of Thailand in men's 100m.

Almost all of India's top athletes are also included in the list in their respective events.

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