Some of India’s finest athletes are in town. The numerous hoardings, big and small, put up across this port city in southern Karnataka remind you of that fact. The Federation Cup athletics meet gets off the block at the Mangala Stadium on Friday. The excitement is understandable as big-time athletics is making a return here after nearly three decades. The last major event was in 1987 — the National Open championship.
P.T. Usha was the star of that meet, winning four gold medals. She is here for this meet, too, as coach of Tintu Luka. Tintu, perhaps the most recognisable face in Indian athletics at the moment, is one of the biggest attractions of the event, more so in the absence of stars such as throwers Vikas Gowda and Seema Antil and walker K.T. Irfan.
Besides her pet event, the 800m, Tintu also wants to put on a good show in the 400m, in which she has had a good run as part of the Indian relay team. “I am aiming to run 800m under two minutes,” she told The Hindu . “After my run at the recent National Games in Thiruvananthapuram, I feel I can hit form right from the beginning of the new season.”
This meet is not just the season-opener for the Indian athletes; it is also the selection trials for the Asian championship to be held in Wuhan, China from June 3 to 7. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has fixed the fourth place at the last Asian championship as the qualifying mark. And this is the World championship year too; it will be held in Beijing in August.
“We have asked all the athletes to compete here as we want them to prepare for the Asian meet,” said AFI secretary C.K. Valson. “Athletes who are competing or training abroad, such as Vikas, Seema, long jumper K. Premkumar and walkers Manish Rawat, Sandeep Kumar and Kushbir Kaur, are exempted. As are those nursing injuries like Irfan and 400m runners Mandeep Kaur and Ashwini Akkunji.”
Valson said enough stars had assembled to make up for their absence. “Athletes like M.R. Poovamma, Arpinder Singh (triple jump) and Tintu, of course, will make the athletics fans here happy,” he said. “We at the AFI are delighted with the way the people here have responded to the Federation Cup.”
He said the AFI wanted to take major meets to places where athletics events were not conducted regularly, but had the potential to produce athletes. “Mangaluru is one such place,” he said. “The city has already produced many international athletes, like Poovamma and Sahana Kumari, and we hope more youngsters will take up the sport after watching a big event such as the Federation Cup.”
Usha said, “You can get good crowds here. The track looks in fairly good shape too; my wards, including Tintu and Jessy Joseph, have been practising regularly on this track for the last few years and they feel this is quite good.”
More than 800 athletes will be seen in action over the next four days.
