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Media Bulletin No. 2: Sprints Preview of the Metlife National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship 2005 |
| June 27, 2005: One hundred
meter running race is the most glamorous event of any athletic
championship and Senior National Athletics Championship is no exception.
With India's best and fastest runners on the blocks, it's going to be more
interesting and entertaining to watch as who will become India's fastest.
Fact that short sprints are the only events in the world, which last
between 6-10 seconds but the viewership and excitement it generates, is
extreme. There was time when only few athletes were able to dip below 11seconds in the 100m but in the last decade this situation has changed drastically in India. Now we have bunch of sprinters clocking sub 11second timings. This is the result of constant training camp organized by AFI. Sree Kanteerava Stadium's synthetic track is very special for Anil Kumar, on the same track, five years back he had clocked the fastest timing by any Indian 10.21s till date but due to technical reason this record could not ratified. Although he still hold the National record in both 100m (10.33s) and 200m (20.73s). Army man Anil Kumar, 32 is on hunt for another title at the Senior National Athletics Championship where he had won 100m title for 3 times while 200m for 4 times. He is dominating this event for last 7 years. Anil had made it clear his intentions when he won Federation Cup at Delhi with season fastest timing of 10.36s. Fact that he is at all not doing any specific sprint workouts as he is focusing on one lap race this season. Anil's performance at the recently concluded Asian Grand prix series 10.47s (Indonesia), 10.51s (Singapore) and 10.41s(Songkhla) are quite impressive. Anil will represent his state Kerala in the championship. Anil's biggest challenger will be Piyush Kumar Pandey, national champion in 2004 representing Delhi whose season best mark is 10.48s set at the Federation Cup. His personal best is 10.35s clocked on 16th March 2004. Piyush was in great form in 2004 in 100m, winning all the championship title held in 2004. Punjab's Jagdish Basak has potential to stage upset in the 100m. Basak flagged of this season with victory over Piyush in National Circuit at Delhi clocking 10.48s. He is excited to prove his talent in 100m. In the women's section, Poonam Tomar of Delhi who's unbeaten run at domestic season is expected to continue in the Senior Nationals where Poonam is looking forward 4th consecutive title in 100m at the Senior Nationals. She is currently leading season with 11.55s while Kerala's Deepti Jose is on the second rank with 11.89s. Come, on July 4 to witness the finals of the 100m for men and women at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, you may witness record-breaking performances. From History: Adille Sumariwalla, Sprint King on Indian Soil is having the rare distinction of winning the Inter-State 100m titles seven-in-a-row from 1979 to 1985. In addition he has also won the 200m twice (1979 and 1983). Ramaswamy Gnanasekharan (represented Tamil Nadu) become the national sprint champ 4 times while A.P. Ramaswamy, Anil Kumar and Kenneth L. Powell had won 3 titles each in 100m. Both Anil Kumar and Kenneth L. Powell took 4 victories in the 200m whereas Anand Natarajan and Rami Reddy did so thrice. Among the women, P.T. Usha won the 100m title a record 10 times and 200m title 9 times between 1981-1999 to carve her name as the undisputed Queen of Indian sprinting. Karnataka's E.B. Shyla won the 100m on four nationals (1992-95). This apart three other athletes had hat-trick of victories in the above meet. They are--Sandesh Sodhi (1964-66), Nirmala Uthaiah (1970-72) and Poonam Tomar (2002-04). With inputs from Ram Murli Krishnan
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