Chinese sprinter Zheng Piemeng, who raced alongside Usain Bolt in the IAAF Diamond League 200 sprint in Shanghai recently, has the power and acceleration to make his rivals feel the heat in the 100m dash in the Asian Grand Prix Series meet here on Tuesday.
Zheng, whose personal best is 10.23 seconds, can expect a challenge from Indonesian Suryo Wibowo (10.17 seconds) and Thailand's Sondee Wachara (10.30 seconds) over the short sprint.
With athletes from 22 countries taking part in the meet, the presence of athletes from China, Kazakhstan, Iran, Japan and Uzbekistan for the first leg in Pune will raise levels among lesser experienced rivals, pushing the tougher ones to notch up personal bests.
There will be fifteen events in the men's and women's categories, with prize money of $250,000 on offer.
Uzbekistan's Guzei Khubbieva, the fastest woman at the 2006 Doha Asian Games clocking 11.27, has won the Asian GP series the last two years.
The 34-year-old does not have the competition to stretch her, yet will bear watching due to her track record among Asians over the sprints.
Host's hopes
Indian throwers have always shown their might at this level. This time, Om Prakash Singh, who has a personal best of 20.02m, will look to dominate the men's shot put.
Krishna Poonia, Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil in women's discus will also be in contention for gold.
Krishna is training in the US under former Olympic champion Mac Wilkins, and recently recorded a personal best 63.69m at the US Olympic Centre meet in San Diego this month.
The Doha Asian Games bronze medallist will face competition from Harwant (63.05m) and Seema (64.64m).
Tintu Luka is a youngster with tremendous potential in the women's 800m, with two athletes from Kazakhstan and one from Uzbekistan in the event to push her.
