Indian Athletics Thread ...

[Mugundan]

I don't know if he is in medal contention, but he is young and improving, so maybe he has an 8.30+ in him.. Actually yes, medal contention for Asiad. Not Olympics. I don't think there is indication that he eats anything other than choru and kozhi (rice and chicken, Kerala style). Can never rule out pacha-cheera (green spinach) though .... Only Mugu may know!

There has been no indication of spinach in his case Jay. So far, that is!

[Mugundan]

Neeraj Chopra also does not look to be in the spinach category at the moment. For the time being, I for one, would close that list of "spinach free" athletes!
There have been some sensational timings in both short sprints. The 200m will begin today. Expect some startling efforts.
Spinach would be visible when they start fading from a month now. If they are able to perform at this level at Inter-State in June, some doubt could be cleared, but not all.
Both 4x400 teams look to be in some disarray at the moment. Hima Das not running, Vismaya not having competed till now and then getting disqualified, Saritaben Gayakwad not to be seen, Anjali Devi (51.53 in 2019) complaining about an injury (not for the first time when she is in a camp), Anas pulling out, a couple of others absent etc.
If they do make the Europe trip (right now in some doubt because of Covid situation) there could be a chance for improvement. (You know the reasons for that!). Otherwise things look gloomy.

[Mugundan]

Electronic measuring device I presume?

Probably not. Anyway, I think nobody has been using electronic measurements for long jump till very recently. I think it was only 3 or 4 years that even the world athletic meets started using electronic measurement.

Electronic measuring device for field events has been in vogue for more than ten years in India and more than that in the world Jay. If someone wants to fudge/cheat it can still be done by placing the device slightly ahead of the actual landing in a long jump or javelin/discus.

[Mugundan]

8.26 M is pretty good by world standards too. At last 2 world championships and at Rio olympics, it would have got him into 5th position. The bronze went at 8.32 and 8.34 at WC and 8.29 at Rio. So, this jump from Sreeshankar is not far behind.

Still, it may be too much too expect him to be in medal contention at this olympics. But, since he is 21, we can expect him to improve and be in medal contention at next olympics.

Right now, Sreeshankar is joint 12th in "Road to Tokyo" (counting entry restrictions)
https://www.worldathletics.org/stats-zo ... d=10229617

[jayakris]

Thanks for all the updates, Mugu!

[Sin Hombre]

My discount was to compensate for athletes generally not hitting their personal best at the Olympics, not for measurement fudging.

If we are going to compare to past performances at the Olympics or Asiad, we either use PBs for everyone or apply some discount to the PB.

[sameerph]

8.26 M is pretty good by world standards too. At last 2 world championships and at Rio olympics, it would have got him into 5th position. The bronze went at 8.32 and 8.34 at WC and 8.29 at Rio. So, this jump from Sreeshankar is not far behind.

Still, it may be too much too expect him to be in medal contention at this olympics. But, since he is 21, we can expect him to improve and be in medal contention at next olympics.

Right now, Sreeshankar is joint 12th in "Road to Tokyo" (counting entry restrictions)
https://www.worldathletics.org/stats-zo ... d=10229617

That is where we can make expect him to finish at Tokyo. Top 8 finish would be great. He is the first Indian athlete who seemed realistic when he said his real medal chances would be in 2024.

[Mugundan]

My discount was to compensate for athletes generally not hitting their personal best at the Olympics, not for measurement fudging.

If we are going to compare to past performances at the Olympics or Asiad, we either use PBs for everyone or apply some discount to the PB.

True. Rarely do athletes touch their PBs. If they are making an Olympic debut, nerves would be more. In a packed stadium much more (this time, I think stadia would only be half full).
Getting the odd 8.20 or 8.30 do not necessarily matter in an Olympic context. Yet, sometimes, a jumper is able to get everything together in one jump and posts an 8.40 in his very first jump. That puts the pressure on others.
Conversely, a newcomer has started with a foul in a qualifying round. The pressure is on him. Two more jumps to go...mind starts playing tricks. Good luck all to all the youngsters (of course those who are spinach-free) at this stage itself. We will have to keep a close watch on them from now on to know whether they are in contention.

[sameerph]

There have been some sensational timings in both short sprints. The 200m will begin today. Expect some startling efforts.

Dhana Laxmi comes up with a 23.26 seconds in 200M heats, among top 10 marks from India and beats Hima Das comfortably.

[suresh]

Dhana Lakshmi comes out of nowhere and does well in 100m/200m.

[Mugundan]

Surely she has caused a surprise, especially beating Dutee Chand and taking 100 metres.
She was there in 2020 finishing second in 100m in inter-University. On the way she timed a PB 11.57 in 100m. (Bettering now by a huge, shocking margin). She was there in 2019, too, She competed in WUG, Napoli (where Chand took gold), eliminated in first round in both sprints, 12.04 and 24.59s. At home in Lucknow Inter-State she was third in 200m (Suseendran took gold) in 24.22s.
Reports or social media said she had been called to camps in the past but never attended!
It seems she has hit a purple patch this year. Will have to see whether this is going to last. This should apply to all female sprinters except Dutee Chand, one supposes. For the moment at least.
From about below-15 in 100m Indian lists in 2019, she has jumped to the No. 1 position!

[jayakris]

^^ Have to suspect vegetable influence from that. We should carefully watch those who give such out-of-the-blue results with inconsistent appearances.

[sameerph]

Dhana Laxmi lost in the final though to Hima Das who broke the meet record with 23.21 seconds.

But, yet another national record today in womens discuss throw by Kamalpreet Kaur. She threw 65.06m and broke nine-year old national record of Krishna Punia and also qualified for the Tokyo olympics.

This throw would have earned her 4th place at Rio olympics and at last world championships. Another medal prospect emerging ? I guess giving some discount on this throw, a top 8 finish would be an achievement.

[rajitghosh]

Is the price of spinach in India going through the roof? Highly suspicious things happening

[jayakris]

How do you break your PB by over 4 meters just like that?? I guess it is possible from age 22 to age 25... Congrats to Kamalpreet, if she is clean, but it is hard to believe.