China’s superpower status in Asian sports is all too well-known. Its dominance in Asian athletics can also never be questioned.
As China gets ready to host its first ever Asian athletics championships, in the 36-year-old history of the continental meet, at the Guangdong Olympic Stadium here from Tuesday, there is a feeling among the fraternity that a record Chinese medal haul could be on the cards.
What can possibly prevent that is the quality of the field. The absence of World champions Youssef Saad Kamel and Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain notwithstanding, it is a formidable field that has assembled here, if one goes by the official list of entries.
Strong challenge
After a two-year gap, Japan is at near full strength while Qatar, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia have also entered strong squads. Viewed in this perspective, it is difficult to imagine India making an impact, leave alone retaining its second position in the medals standings.
The Chinese had topped last time, in Amman in 2007, with seven gold medals even after entering a depleted team, with India claiming four golds in a total haul 15 medals.
Coming off their all-important National Games, just a fortnight ago, the Chinese athletes might not be able to reproduce the kind of form they had shown in Jinan, but they should rule in their traditional strongholds, especially in women’s throws.
Focus on Liu Xiang
Much of the focus among home fans will be on Liu Xiang, the master craftsman over the high hurdles, who had bid a tearful adieu to the Beijing Olympics 14 months earlier because of a recurring Achilles injury.
Posters around the city, announcing the Asian championships, naturally are dominated by Liu, the one man who was expected to bring Olympic glory at home by grabbing the all-elusive athletics gold, but who eventually had to limp out without crossing a hurdle.
Liu was back last September, winning the 110m hurdles at the Shanghai Golden in a season-leading 13.15 seconds. He won the National Games title too without a problem and is expected to be back here looking for his second Asian title in an illustrious career in which he has won the Olympic and World titles and held the world record.
Another star Chinese attraction is expected to be the World marathon champion Bai Xue, who has been entered in the women’s 10,000 metres.
Japan strong in sprints
The Japanese look set to dominate the men’s sprints unless the late-season handicap proves too much for them to handle. Defending champion and Asian record holder Samuel Francis, who broke through the 10-second barrier last time, is also in the fray.
The Qataris and the Japanese should corner much of the glory in the distance events while the latter could be looking to grab top spots in men’s jumps, too.
Where does India stand in this midst? Its two medals in the recent Asian Indoor Games was no reflection of its true strength since only a second-string team was entered in Hanoi. Yet, there is an inescapable truth that Indian athletics is finding it increasingly difficult to be counted among the top nations in the continent.
The expectations this time could centre around shot putter Om Prakash Singh, who crossed 20 metres in the Chennai inter-State meet, the women’s 4 x 400m relay team, triple jumper Renjith Maheswary, 400m hurdler Joseph Abraham and women 400m runners Manjeet Kaur and Mandeep Kaur.
Middle distance runners Tintu Luka and Sushma Devi, triple jumper M.A. Prajusha, discus throwers Krishna Poonia and Harwant Kaur and the men’s 1600m team could also be nursing hopes of medals.
All of them have a tough task. Indian athletics will be on trial here, just as it was in the Doha Asiad. Then, just one gold had accrued, through the women’s longer relay team.
