India National Thread

[tirtha22 238]

Athletics

 

Over the weekend a batch of 30 Indian athletes, specialised coaches and support staff are to travel to Spala in central Poland. Till the end of June, the Olympic training centre in the East European country will be the base for these athletes.

 

Those on the plane to Poland will be the men and women’s 4×400 metre relay teams and javelin throwers. The race walkers, a dozen of them who have met qualifying standards for the Rio Games, will eventually shift base from Italy to the Polish city before leaving for the Olympics.

 

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the relay team set the current national record (3:26.89 seconds) in the heats and advanced to the final, where they finished seventh. Four years later, at Beijing, they failed to make the final. The team failed to recover from the dope scandal of 2011 and did not qualify for the London Games. The resurrection came in the form of gold medals at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2013 and the Incheon Asian Games. Yet, the good run suffered a setback when the team finished second at the Asian Athletics Championships in Wuhan last year. At the Asian meet the team clocked 3:33.44, a below par timing which has come back to bite them ahead of the Olympics. For a national team to qualify for the relays (the top-eight teams at the IAAF World Relays in Bahamas have automatically qualified), the average of the two best timings achieved between January 1 last year and July 11, 2016 at an international meet must be good enough to be placed between No.9 and 16 in the world. At the World Championships in Beijing, the Indian women’s 4×400 metre relay squad clocked a season’s best of 3:29.08 but the performance at Wuhan has hurt the team’s chances and they are currently placed 17th in the world. The Indian team’s average stands at 3:31.34 and ahead on the list at No.16 is Germany with 3:30.93 and Japan with 3:30.85. The top-three in the list are the United States, Jamaica and Great Britain. If the suspension of Russia (average time of 3:24.29) is revoked then according to current standings the Indian team will drop another place. With time running out, the team coached by Ukrainian Yuri Ogorodnik, who was in charge when the squad failed a dope test in 2011, has assured the AFI that the women will peak by June. The AFI’s deputy chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair believes that timing, at one of the international competitions over the next two months, close to what the team achieved at the World Championships in Beijing, should push them back into the top-16. “The women’s 4×400 metre relay team needs one good race. During their trip to Spala, they will also be participating in more than one international competitions. The AFI is confident of the team making the cut for the Olympics,” Nair said

 

What has come as a breath of fresh air and a boost for the relay squad is the recent form of Anilda Thomas, the Kerala sprinter who chose to train outside the national camp but has had a change of heart in the run-up to the Olympics. Anilda’s decision to train with her coach Jaikumar PB has resulted in progress though the AFI wasn’t happy that a top sprinter was unwilling to be part of the national camp. Anilda beat the country’s best in the 400, MR Poovamma, in the first leg of the Indian Grand Prix in New Delhi and the Federation Cup also held in the capital. Anilda’s training partner in Thiruvananthapuram Anu Raghavan, who is recovering from a niggle, has also been included in the national camp. At the Federation Cup, Anilda won the gold with a timing of 52.40, while Poovamma (52.60) finished second. The Olympic qualifying mark in the 400 metre individual event stands at 52.20, and with the women, including seasoned runners like Jauna Murmu and Priyanka Panwar pushing each other in the individual event, the relay squad is bound to get stronger. Add to this pool of runners the promising Jishna Mathew, a student of the Usha School of Athletics, and her senior Tintu Luka. In the group are also Ashwini Akkunji, Debasree Majumdar and Sini Jose. The mix of youth, experience and proven performers means there is no scarcity of athletes to choose from, but who will ultimately make the squad of six will depend on form and fitness over the next few weeks. But first there remains the task of qualifying for the Olympics for this squad around which expectations tend to soar before a major event.

 

Qualifying Rules

 

Should have finished among the first eight placed teams at the IAAF World Relays at Bahamas in 2015. Or finished among the best ranked teams (No.9 to No.16) to fill the remaining quota places. The two fastest times achieved by national teams in the qualification period — January 1, 2015 to July 11, 2016 — at international meets are taken into consideration. The Indian women’s 4×400 metre women’s relay team is currently in 17th position according to the average timings of teams around the world. If Russia, currently suspended, is readmitted, the Indian team will drop another place unless they improve their average timing.

 

Source : Indian Express

[Prashanth 185]

Only 130kg is left for the day....Can India get the 2nd quota...looks unlikely...But yeh Dil Mange more....

[Vivek 6]

Only 130kg is left for the day....Can India get the 2nd quota...looks unlikely...But yeh Dil Mange more....

had India won any quota today? 

[gvaisakh 23]

2 minutes ago, Vivek said:

Only 130kg is left for the day....Can India get the 2nd quota...looks unlikely...But yeh Dil Mange more....

had India won any quota today? 

@Prashanth meant overall 2nd GR quota

[Vivek 6]

5 minutes ago, Prashanth said:

Only 130kg is left for the day....Can India get the 2nd quota...looks unlikely...But yeh Dil Mange more....

 

had india qon any quota today?

[Prashanth 185]

@Vivek Not yet....

[Prashanth 185]

No live telecast of Indian Grand Prix II...

[Vivek 6]

get latest update from wrestling qualifier live here:-

https://unitedworldwrestling.org/event/2nd-og-world-qualifying-tournament

[Prashanth 185]

1 minute ago, Vivek said:

get latest update from wrestling qualifier live here:-

https://unitedworldwrestling.org/event/2nd-og-world-qualifying-tournament

watching the video live waiting for the MAT C  match 133....now 131 going on...

[Vivek 6]

5 minutes ago, gvaisakh said:

@Prashanth meant overall 2nd GR quota

 

GR is never our strong part, last year we didn't got a single quota. This year atleast one. May be two, but that will be tougher.