Disastrous World championships for Indian athletes

It was the same old story of Indian athletes promising much but delivering little at major meets.

At the recently-concluded World Athletics championships, at Edmonton, Canada, the performance of the Indian team could at best be termed as disastrous, as none came even near their personal best mark.

The Amateur Athletic Federation of India had sent a four-member team comprising Sanjay Rai -- men's long jump; K M Beenamol -- women's 400 meters; Neelam J Singh -- women's discuss and G Pramila Ganapathy -- women's heptathlon, to the August 3 to 12 event. But the only notable acheivement came from quarter-miler K M Beenamol, who qualified for the semi-finals. All the others went down in the initial rounds.

Beenamol finished fifth in her heat, clocking 52.17 seconds, her best timing this season. However, her timing was much below her personal best of 51.21 seconds and the 52.04 seconds she clocked at the Sydney Olympics.

The Railways athlete qualifed for the semis only by virtue of being among the six fastest losers. However, she was simply outclassed in the semi, finishing a poor eighth in 52.68 seconds, which was much slower than the time she recorded in the heats.

Amy Thiam Mbacke of Senegal won the event in 49.86 seconds.

In the women's heptathlon, G Pramila Ganapathy, with 5492 points, finished 15th in a field of 18. Her performance was well below her personal best of 6105 points, which she achieved in Madras last year. She scored 5548 at the last Sydney Olympics, where she finished 24th.

Yelena Prokhorova of Russia won the gold, with 6694 points.

In the women's dicuss throw, Neelam J Singh finished a poor 19th in the field of 22, throwing 56.52 meters (her three throws were: 56.33 m, 56.52 m, 55.46 m), which was way below her personal best of 63.02 metres, achieved last year. It was even lower then her season's best of 59.14 metres.

At the Sydney Olympics she finished 14th in the qualification round with a throw of 55.26 metres.

Sadova Natalya of Russia won the event with the throw of 68.57 metres.

In the men's long jump, Sanjay Kumar Rai finished 26th in a field of 27 with a leap of 7.24 metres (7.12 m and 7.24 m; the last attempt was a foul), much below his personal best of 8.03 metres.

Iván Pedroso of Cuba won the event with a jump of 8.40 metres.