Jayasinghe kickstarts Asian Circuit in Hyderabad

Susanthika Jayasinghe obliged her innumerable fans here and back home by winning the women’s dash, but her Sri Lankan team-mate Damayanthi Darsha was upset in the 400 metres by Svetlana Bodritskaya in the first leg of the 2003 Asian Grand Prix circuit here tonight.

In what was to be the best field assembled for the opening leg of the Asian circuit, that is only into its second year, Jayasinghe, her reputation at stake, had to ward off a spirited challenge from Uzbek Guzel Khubbieva right towards the finish. There was one anxious look in the direction of the electronic scoreboard before the Sri Lankan accepted congratulations from all around and did an impromptu jig for the benefit of the cameramen.

This was typical Jayasinghe, just as everyone had seen her at the Colombo Asians last year, followed by her outstanding show in the Busan Asian Games. The difference, if anything here, was the slight lack of power at the finish. Obviously, as she had stated on arrival here, she was testing herself out for the first time after the Asian Games in October where she had to pull out of the 200 metres because of a hamstring strain after having effortlessly won the 100.

Uzbek Lyubov Perepelova, silver winner at the Busan Asian Games, was off to a brilliant start tonight, but by the 50-metre mark, Jayasinghe was in full flow and gaining ground. She seemed to have conquered the field in another 20 metres. But then, Khubbieva’s challenge from behind, in lane seven, was hardly noticed till she came surging through the final 20 metres. It was a great effort from Khubbieva, a disappointing eighth in Busan. In the end, the Sri Lankan had enough to spare, 11.30s to 11.35s, not bad at all to open the season with.

Darsha, who like Jayasinghe, had said that she would not be going all out here, was clearly rusty. Bodritskaya put in a tremendous amount of work over the first 200 metres  to make sure that she was right on course and to be in a position to challenge her redoubtable rival. And though Darsha came through the home bend slightly ahead, it was clear that she was fast losing steam. The strain showed on Darsha’s face even as the Kazak went into overdrive on the straight. Bodritskaya seemed to have plenty left as she neared the finish, overhauling the Asian Games champion around  50 metres from the end and keeping ahead, though only by a stride, till the wire. In the battle for the bronze among home runners, S. Geetha  was triumphant.

An upset of sorts was also witnessed in the women’s 800 metres where Tatyana Roslanova, a better-rated quarter-miler, edged Zamira Amirova, the favourite from Uzbekistan. The 22-year-old Kazak held onto an eight-metre lead, coming into the home straight, to win in 2:02.05 with Amirova coming home in 2:02.82. The home fans might have fancied Asian Games silver medallist, Madhuri Singh, providing India with its first gold of the evening, but after listlessly staying behind for the opening lap, she just could not step up the tempo when the others started pulling away into the second lap. She was never in contention for a medal.

Five runners competed in the women’s 400 metres and 800 metres, just four in the women’s 100m hurdles that set the ball rolling for the evening. Trecia Roberts of Thailand was the runaway winner over the hurdles, clearing them all without the slightest of trouble for a 13.22 second finish that left Sri Lankan Sriyani Kulawansa clearly behind.
Asian Games champion Anju George never made it from her California training base, and that meant Kazak Yelena Kashcheyeva had no opposition worth the name in long jump. She won at 6.62 metres, incidentally just a centimeter less than her best last season, recorded at Bangkok on the same circuit.

Most of the men’s events, where also thin fields were the order rather than the exception, came through on expected lines, though there was a flutter when the little-known Saudi Arabian, Mohammed Al-Salhi got the better of the Asian champion, Mikhail Kolaganov of Kazakhstan in the 800 metres. Al-Salhi made it look easy, pulling away from 200 metres out and keeping up the pace through the straight. From about 20 metres he had the time and leeway to spread his arms out in triumph.

There could not have been too many doubts about the class and caliber of Gennadiy Chernovol in the men’s 100m, but the great start that the Thai Sittichai Suwornprateep had might have given the jitters to the Kazak for a moment. Past the halfway mark, Chernovol was striding fluently as ever and once past his closest challenger, the Kazak was as good as through. The timings were ordinary, 10.42 for Chernovol and 10.45 for Suwornprateep, with another Thai, Ekkachai Junthana third in 10.54.

Rohan Pradeep Kumara won a start-to-finish race over the lap, outclassing fellow Sri Lankan Sugath Tillakeratne 45.95 to 46.28. This was always going to be a fight between the two Sri Lankans and the younger one had to be given the better odds since he had been in form last season, when he scored over Tillakeratne for the first time at home and eventually won the bronze at the Busan Asian Games. Anil Kumar Rohil did better than his better-ranked Indian team-mates, Bhupinder Singh and Satbir Singh, for the bronze.

For the second time in seven months, Abbas Samimi of Iran proved a cut above Anil Kumar in discus throw. The Indian, who made it from Szombathely in Hungary, where he had been in training since last year, could not match Samimi’s 61.06 metres and settled for the silver at a below-par 57.83m. Samimi had taken the silver behind Chinese Wu Tao in the Busan Asian Games where Anil Kumar had finished with the bronze. Two years earlier, at Jakarta, Anil Kumar had won the gold in the Asian championships with Samimi coming second best. The discus duels through the next three legs, in Colombo, Bangkok and Manila, should be interesting.
 
The results:

Men:
100m: 1. Gennadiy Chernovol (KAZ) 10.42s, 2. Sittichai Suwornprateep (THA) 10.45s, 3. Ekkachai Junthana (THA) 10.54s.
400m: 1. Rohan Pradeep Kumara (SRI) 45.95s, 2. Sugath Tillakeratne (SRI) 46.28s, 3. Anil Kumar Rohil (IND) 47.77s.
800m: 1. Mohammed Al-Salhi (KSA) 1:50.04, 2. Mikhail Kolaganov (KAZ) 1:50.43 , 3. P. S. Primesh (IND)  1:51.10.
110m hurdles: 1. Narongdech Janjai (THA)  14.14s, 2. A. I. Kumara de Silva (SRI) 14.37s,  3. Naunidh Singh (IND) 14.48s.
Long jump: 1. Mohammed Al-Khuwaildi (KSA) 7.85m, 2.  Ahmed Al-Dossary (KSA) 7.51m, 3. Maha Singh (IND) 7.38m.
Discus throw: 1. Abbas Samimi (Iran) 61.06m, 2. Anil Kumar (IND) 57.83m, 3. Sultan Al Dawodi (KSA) 55.70m.
Javelin throw: 1. Sergey Voynov (UZB) 78.36m, 2. Ramandeep Singh (IND) 76.92m, 3. Jagdish Bishnoi  (IND) 67.35m.
 Women:
100m: 1. Susanthika Jayasinghe (SRI) 11.30s, 2. Guzel Khubbieva (UZB) 11.35s, 3. Oranut Klomdee (THA) 11.45s.
400m: 1. Svetlana Bodritskaya (KAZ) 52.59s, 2. Damayanthi Darsha (SRI) 52.78s, 3. S. Geetha (IND) 56.75s.
800m: 1. Tatyana Roslanova (KAZ) 2:02.05, 2. Zamira Amirova (UZB) 2:02.82, 3. Tatyana Borisova (KGZ) 2:03.75.
100m hurdles: 1. Trecia  Roberts (THA), 13.22s, 2. Sriyani Kulawansa (SRI) 13.32,  3. Soma Biswas (IND) 14.30s.
Long jump: 1. Yelena Kashcheyeva (KAZ) 6.62m, 2. Marstella Torres (PHI) 6.21m, 3. Elena Bobrovskaya (KGZ) 6.15m.
Shot put: 1. Du Xianhui (SIN) 18.38m, 2. Zhang Guirong (SIN) 17.84, 3. Juthaporn Krasaeyan (THA) 16.10m.