Indian GP final leg today |
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RANCHI: The fifth and final leg of the Indian athletics Grand Prix will be held at the newly-built Birsa Munda Stadium here on Wednesday.
The city, bracing up to meet the National Games deadline, will be making an unscheduled inauguration of this international level facility tomorrow evening.
The organisers have decided to use the newly installed floodlights. The fourth leg of the event, which was held a couple of days ago in Jamshedpur, did not help the athletes, who could only produce average results.
The previous meet was held in the afternoon in the absence of floodlighting and many blamed the heat and humidity as a reason for their mediocre display.
With everything going the way most had wished for, the final leg thus becomes important for those looking for a realistic chance to qualify.
Maha Singh of Railways, the strapping long-jumper, who has jumped 7.94m in the third leg of the meet, is looking forward to overhaul the National record of 8.08m set by Amritpal Singh in 2004.
Maha Singh, who needs a jump of 8.05m for World championship qualification, is so fired up that he decided to ignore a niggling hamstring and the advice of the attendant Russian doctor Bladimir Crabchenko, who had prescribed him rest.
“The facilities here are giving me the confidence of making a try,” Singh said. “I am feeling fine after the warm-up and would give it a try tomorrow,” he added.
High jump National record-holder Hari Shankar Ray would also be looking to better his National record of 2.25m. “I will definitely try to make it to the world meet,” he said, although the requisite 2.28m for the World championship qualification appears difficult.
With Bibin Mathew and K.M. Binu out of the men’s 400m fray the competition for the title is likely to be among Bengal’s S.K Mortaza and V.B. Beenish (Railways), who won in the previous meet, and Kerala’s Sreejith.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/10/stories/2009061055851500.htm