Nothing much to shout about 50th National Open Athletics

Yet another meet has come and gone with nothing much to shout about as the 50th National Open Athletics Championship did not rise to the expected level, with the Commonwealth Games round the corner.

Much was expected from the athletes, many of them internationals, after the recent Federation Cup Athletic championship at Ranchi, but much to the dismay of the sports loving people of Kerala, which had produced innumerable star athletes, they came up with mediocre display.

Besides, the meet, which concluded on May 18, was shorn of its glory with some prominent athletes, including Sini Jose, double gold medallist in Ranchi, giving it a skip.

Former sprint queen PT Usha said except for S Gayathry (Tamil Nadu) and Tintu Luka (Kerala), one could not witness any outstanding performance in the track events.

"This is the start of the season and that might be the reason for the low performance of the athletes," she said.

On some athletes skipping the meet, Usha said, "training alone is not sufficient, participating in competitions is also equally important. If we treat the meet as an important one, then the Federation must see that everyone takes part in it."

"India should win a medal in the Commonwealth Games, since it is being held in our country, but it is difficult to predict who will be the winner," she added.

"Kerala athletes, who do well in the junior category, unfortunately do not perform that well in the senior section," she said, adding, "it is true many Kerala athletes are representing other states."

Arjuna awardee Mercy Kuttan, who runs the 'Mercy Kuttan Athletics Academy' based in Kochi to groom budding talent, emphasised the need for the athletes to participate in all the meets.

Even though Railways dominated the meet and won the overall title in a row for the sixth time, the decreasing medal tally might cause some worry for the Railmen, who had bagged a total of 50 medals here.

Railways had pocketed 57 medals at Bhopal in 2009 and 60 at Kochi in 2008, while a dip was also seen in their gold medal haul, which was 27 in 2008, 22 in 2009 and 18 in 2010.

The meet had also witnessed a dearth in new records, as only five records including a National Record was set in the edition. Railways, who proved a cut above the rest, had hands in two of the records.  Gayathry of Tamil Nadu, Tintu Luka of Kerala, Md Abdul Najeeb Qureshi of Andhra Padesh, showed great promise in bagging a golden double in the four-day meet.

Railways Sudha Singh was the lone athlete who broke a National Record, by clinching the gold in 3000 M Steeplechase.

Tintu (800 m), Renjith Maheshwari (Rlys-Triple), and Kavita Raut (Mah-10000 m) and Elam Singh (Services-3000 Steeplechase) also came up with sterling performance to rewrite the meet records.

Gajanan Upadhya of Railways (Pole Vault), Kavya Muthanna (Kar-High Jump), and Ankit Sharma (MP-Long Jump) also caught the eyes with their performance.

The hot and humid conditions that prevailed in Kochi, might have been a cause for the poor performance of the athletes, but that cannot be an excuse with the amount of training and facilities the athletes are undergoing, sports enthusiasts feel.