Indian Athletics Thread ...

[prasen9]

We now have some sports infrastructure, coaching/training centers, etc. Bangladesh will have to get that infrastructure or send people abroad. They do not possibly prioritize sending people abroad, etc. as much. The umpteen number of foreign coaches, trips/training abroad, the coaching centers, academies have helped. Still we reach and turn around a piddly amount of our true potential and we need much more infrastructure. Bangladesh has seen some economic development that is somewhat substantial. We will see if they focus on sports.

[Mugundan]

It might not be a good asessment to look at CWG medals and conclude that there has been a great change in Indian athletics. Yes, there is more keenness and more incentives; more trainining facilities and more opportunities. Funding is not a big problem for top athletes. Yet, if one analyses the results from Birmingham, one can see there weren't many performances by Indians that held out hope for the future at the global level. The triple jumpers in the CW midst were(are) average levels. Thus 17.03 (wind speed +3.1) was good enough for gold. It is often that CWG shows poor TJ standard. This field was ordinary. Paul, Aboobacker and Chithravel essentially competed among themselves. The top CW man (boy in fact) this season was Jamaican Jaydon Hibbert who did an astonishing 17.27m for the World U-20 gold two days before the Birmingham final. There was no way he could have been entered in CWG. Just 17 years and already doing 17+ The second CW man this season Chengetayi David Mapaya (Zimbabwe) with 17.26m, did not enter.
Walk eveents in Birmingham had depleted fields. The Indian timings were good in 10,000m, not so familliar these days but the overall stanadards beeing poor it is difficult to assess what their standing could be in the world in the 20km.
Avinash Sable won silver in a world-class field, but we have to remember Kenyans even at the world level are no longer sweeping medals as they used to do not long ago. Sable has improved tremendously in his tactics and timings. He wil have to get used to slow races as well as fast ones. This wass considerably faster than at Eugene.
Sreshankar (LJ) and Tejaswin Shankar (HJ) were well below par and yet won medals.
Annu Rani had just enough competition to take Discus bronze with 60.00m. Thirty-four women have thrown 60.73 or better this season. Rani did 63.82m for National record at home.

[sameerph]

Thanks for bringing us reality check, Mugu. But, I would provide counterpoint to this.

Murali Sreeshankar finished 7th at recent world championships with a mark of 8.00, 8.06 which he achieved at CWG would have given him 5th spot.

Paul had a 16.79 at WC which gave him 11th spot. 17.03 with which he won gold at CWG would have given him 7th spot and similar for Abdula.

Annu Rani finished 8th at WC with a similar level effort like yesterday.

So, all 4 of them, maybe Avinash too have shown to be at level to be between 5-8 sports at world level. As you say, many more have achieved better distances/marks in the world this year including themselves but we know that finally doing it at big events is the thing which matters. And these 4-5 seem to have shown that they are pretty close to world medal level, still some way to go before they can be considered as medal prospects for Paris 2024 but they are close. We never had so many in Athletics who can be even close to being medal contenders at world events. Therefore, it all looks encouraging.

[arjun2761]

Also add Neeraj who is pretty much 1-2 in every competition. Overall we are getting closer to world class.

[Mugundan]

Our athletes are close to world standards or say reached world levels. A 11th place in WC may not mean one of the contenders even for a final 12 in a field event. If an athlete is able to perform at that level consistently may be it would be justified to call him/her as world-class or world top-10 or 12 in the future. But surely, not medal contender.
The CWG performance, except for that of Sable, was not really world-class nor does it inspire confiddence for next year's WC or Paris Olympics. (Neeraj Chopra will continue to remain among the top-3 contenders in any global meet unless he slips badly which is unlikely. He has the best of reuslts this season, updating his NR, though he couldn't perform up to expectations in Orgeon).
Paul's 17.03 was assisted by a wind-speed of 3.1. It is part of the game of course. But then just imagine where he would be without that wind, or say even 1.4 or 1.5 which several others got? He would still be looking for 17 metres and he might not have won a medal. Luck is always a factor in thesse situations.
To cut it short, all our triple jumpers did better at home this season. Couldn't find mcuh mention of it as medal contenders in the WC in any leading athletics publications. Since the CWG standards were low and a couple of top guys were not competing, our jumpers were medal prospects. Kudos to them they delivered.
Sable beat a former Olympic champion and two-time world champion plus a former World junior champion. More importantly he could change strategy to suit his pace to plot a surprise. THe Kenyans apparently didn't think that he would keep up when they increased pace and still be able to chase them down the home straight. His 8:11 timing was also world-class but in a field in which Moroccan Olympic champion El Bakkali and Ethiopian Girma would figure (with a fresh batch of Kenyans probably) in global meets next, it would be difficult to say if Sable could be medal contender. He would be a favourite to take a place among the top-6.
Annu Rani is inconsistent. She might finish top-6 or top-8 in WC but it would be impossible to consider her as a contender for final, forgetting a medal.
In the events in which the Indians managed medals or shone (barring 3000m steeplechase and women's javelin), the Commonwealth standards are/were either sub-standard compared to the world level or some of the top athletes were missing.
We have certainly improved during the past four-six years but global standards are still some distance away. If the triple jumpers are consistent around 17.40m or Annu Rani could be around 64-65m, there could be hope outside of Chopra and Sable. Sreeshankar is another man to watch out for.

[Sin Hombre]

mugu I think the point is, we have
1 top-3 medal contender (Neeraj)
1 middle-distance runner who can win a medal with some luck (Sable)
2-3 who can make an Olympics or WC final (Eldhose, Sreeshankar, Annu Rani)

This is a marked improvement for us.

[Mugundan]

Surely we have improved.

[SaniaFan]

There was an interview from the guy who is head of athletics in India(some Sumreriwala or something), himself said that we are on the right path and in 10 years we'll see Indians winning consistently in the top level event. He also mentioned number of things they did(for individuals) to reach here. For eg. Sable is given individual attention for two and a half years(personal coach, training in Colorado because he was not getting enough competition etc).

[jayakris]

Mugu - by the way, what has happened to Kerala women athletes? No good prospects coming up anymore? There was none at Tokyo, which was sad to see... Where have the PT Ushas, Valsammas, Shinys, Anjus, Bobbys and Preejas gone? Was Tintu the last one of note from Kerala? Whatever happened to Vismaya?

[SaniaFan]

Who is Bobby?

[SaniaFan]

Ok Bobby Aloysius.
She has her own thread here and she posted also viewtopic.php?t=211677&start=15

[jayakris]

^^^ Yes, Bobby Aloysius. Glad that you found the thread. Wow, I had forgotten about that! Eighteen years ago... This forum is such a historical marvel now. We will hot the 20 year anniversary soon.

[SaniaFan]

That thread also reminded me why I always thought Doc was the the heart of this forum!! We lost a lot with him.

[jayakris]

^^^ Yes, we still miss the great man. Doc.

[Mugundan]

^^^ Yes, we still miss the great man. Doc.

We miss him all the time. He was a great source of encouragement in my early years here.
As for Jay's query on Kerala athletics, the women have lagged behind. Last one was Tintu Luka. There was Jisna Mathew (400) also for a while to keep the flag flying for Usha School, but she has faded out a little. Hopefully should come back.
The gold and silver winners in men's triple jump in CWG (Paul & Aboobacker) are from Kerala. Not sure where they are employed. Paul is from Navu, I learnt from a report only yesterday. Most of the male 400m runners are from Kerala, Muhammad Anas (from the Services) . Noah Nirrmal Tom, Amoj Jacob (based in Delhi) Mohammad Ajmal (not sure where he is based or employed).