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India finish with two silvers in athletics

Brilliant running by the relay teams helped India sign off with two silvers in the athletics competitions at the 13th Asian games in Bangkok today.

Veteran P T Usha was left out of the women's relay quartet which, led by Jyotirmoy Sikdar, finished second to China in the 4 x 400 m with a time of 3:32.20.

The men's quartet created a new national record of 3:02.62 in finishing second behind Japan who lowered their own games record of 3:02.33 secs to clock 3:01.70 secs.

The Indian performance on the tracks today was the crowning glory for the athletes who came up with their best performance since the 1986 games to bag two gold, six silver and seven bronze medals.

It was a creditable finish for India in the track and field events though it failed to secure medals in the men's 5000 metres and the javelin for men.

In the 5,000 metres, Gulam Chand could not repeat his performance in the 10,000 metres finishing fourth as he stumbled and failed to keep up pace after entering the home stretch.

Mohammed Taib (Qatar) won the gold while compatriot Ahmed Hashim took the silver with Seong Do Baek (South Korea) earning the bronze.

In javelin, both Indian contenders Satbir Singh and Jagdish Kumar finished sixth and eighth respectively.

Setting at rest speculations, P T Usha, who earned the sobriquet 'Payoli Express' for her remarkable run on the tracks in the last two decades or so, did not steam off for the relay quartet. Jancey Philips replaced India's veteran 'golden queen', who failed in the last event of her career.

Usha claimed she still had the best fourth timing in the event at Bangkok. However, she was not considered by the athletic management and it was left to Jancey to run a very good race as the first runner.

The pace for the women's relay was set by Kazakhstan runner S Badrankova, but Jancy followed her closely to finish second after the first lap. Beenamol, who covered the second lap, maintained the position for the country in which China's H Zang shot to the lead. Kazakhstan's Bodritskaya fell behind.

China's Li Yullian shot up first in the third lap with K Rosa Kutty right behind till the last 150 metres. Then the Indian overtook the Chinese to hand over the baton first to Jyotirmoy Sikdar who anchored for India.

In the decisive lap, China's Chen Yuziang outpaced Sikdar and sprinted superbly to give her country the gold. The Chinese quartet clocked 3:32.03 while the Indians finished with a timing of 3:32.20. The Kazakhs took the bronze with a timing of 3:37.16.