BHOPAL: The 2nd Asian All Star Athletics Championship became a lackluster affair as many reputable Asia-level athletes, who were expected to come, including two top-ranked Chinese, kept away. It turned out a virtually all Indian affair with host athletes garnering major chunk of the medals at stake here on Thursday at Tatya Tope Stadium.
India hogged the limelight in low-key contests with a total of 30 medals out of 54 to their credit of which nine were golds, seven silvers and 14 bronzes. The highlight of the championship was a new India national record in the javelin throw by 23-year-old Anil Singh of India.
Anil, a railway employee who hails from Bhiwani, Haryana, in his second attempt crossed the 80-meter mark. He threw the javelin to a distance of 80.72 meters and broke the 10-year-old national record of 79.68 meters set at Kolkata by Satbir Singh in October 1998. In this event Yamamoto Kazuki of Japan placed second with a throw of 75.06 meters while Sandeep Yadav of India came third with 73.78.
A beaming Anil, after achieving the feat, said that he and his coach were confident to break the 80 meters. Apart from Anil Singh, athletes from India were placed first in eight other events which included 100 meters for men, 400 hurdles for men, shot put and women’s discus throw.
Out of 21 countries invited China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan did not participate in the championship while athletes from Japan, Pakistan, Korea, Kazakhstan, Iran, Syria, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Nepal and host India took part in the competition.
Overall the level of competition was so very poor in the Asian All Star Championship that only one record, that too an Indian National record, was broken. In such a scenario there was either no foreign competitor or no opposition worth the name, barring men’s 400m hurdles and javelin and women’s 100m and 1500m, the Indians won. Indian national discus record holder Seema Antil and season leader and Doha Asian Games champion Song Aimin of China, despite having been entered in the championship, failed to turn up at the venue.
Just three ran the women’s 800 meters, Kazakh Margarita Matsko edging Tintu Luka at the tape. Only three, again, competed in women’s discus, all of them Indians, with Saroj Sihag upsetting Krishna Poonia who could manage only 51.78 meters as against her season best of 63.41.
The events which concluded in the evening were marred by a steady drizzle in the end when part of women’s long jump, the entire women’s 1500 meters and men’s 5000 meters races were held in falling rain.
