Indian athletes will find it difficullt to replicate 2010 performance in track & field events
lacking in preparation and with most of their top stars struggling, India may find it hard to match up their 2010 show when the track and field events of the 20th edition of Commonwealth Games kickstart here on Sunday.
India had won 12 medals, including two gold, in Delhi but they are set to lose out on medals this time around as they have come to Scotland woefully short on exposure. Even the most positive are not predicting more than four medals.
Only a handful of athletes, including defending discus throw champion Krishna Poonia and Seema Antil, have got the chance for training-cum-exposure trips outside the country and they were well short of their personal best in those events.
Except for US-based men’s discus thrower Vikas Gowda, none had done anything noteworthy. Gowda, himself had not been consistent in the major international events. The 32-member strong Indian team’s medal chances will hinge on Poonia and Gowda and young Arpinder Singh (men’s triple jump).
Women’s 4x400m relay quartet has an outside chance for a medal while women’s discus may give another medal with Seema Antil in a field which has very few world-class competitors.
The Indians begin their campaign with men’s shot put qualifying round tomorrow as Om Prakash Singh Karhana will take guard. Om Prakash holds the national record of 20.69m but he has struggled in the last couple of years and his season’s best is 19.74m.
Poonia is the best medal hope among Indian women. However, she has been struggling for form after suffering a groin injury post 2012 london Olympics. She finished outside podium in the 2013 Asian Championships in Pune and has not touched 60m since then. She was sent for training-cum-exposure tour to United States but her latest best performance was a 59.17m last week.
The 32-year-old Indian, who holds the national record of 64.76m, will face stiff competition in Glasgow from Dani Samuels of Australia. 2009 World Champion Samuels hurled the discus to 67.99m this May and will be strong favourite for gold in Glasgow.
Another Indian who carries burden of expectation is young triple jumper Arpinder Singh, who is now both the Commonwealth and Asian leader this season so far. The 21-year-old came up with a huge jump of 171.17m in lucknow in June and if he repeats that effort, he should be a strong candidate for gold. But, that was his first 17m plus effort in his career. His second best is 16.84m. He had also won a bronze in 2013 Asian Championships in Pune with 16.58m.
Sahana Kumari will be competing in women’s High Jump, having come up with a season’s best of 1.89m, while M R Poovamma may hope to perform her best in women’s 400m. Poovamma, 24, who will also spearhead India’s 4x400m campaign, has a season’s best of 51.73sec, making her a medal hopeful.
In women’s 800m, Tintu luka does not have much chance in a world class field and a medal from her is a far cry. The 25-year-old has a personal best and national record of 1:59.17 which she set in 2010. But only twice in her career, luka has run sub-2min in an international event and at least five from CW countries have run sub-2min this season itself.
Another star of the 2010 Delhi CWG is Ashwini Akkunji,who came out last year from a two-year ban for a doping offence, would want to prove that she is among the best in the country but it would be really difficult to win a medal here in her pet event of 400m Hurdles.