Kerala’s six, the best bet?

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Starting July 27, more than 10,500 athletes will compete for glory in events spread over 16 days in London and in the multitude, six Malayalis, the biggest number ever from the state at an Olympics, will compete against the Citius, Altius, Fortius from around the world.

Triple jumpers, Mayookha Johny and Renjith Mahewsary, 800 m runner, Tintu Luka, 20 km race walker, Irfan K.T., hockey goalkeeper, Sreejesh P.R. and badminton doubles player, V. Diju form the Malayali contingent of the 81-member Indian team heading for the 2012 Games.

The concern though is whether these ‘qualified’ athletes are in perfect shape to take on the best from around the world.

“In the current track and field squad except the two discus throwers, Krishna Poonia and Vikas Gowda, no one else is likely to enter the finals,” believes Mercy Kuttan, who participated in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. “The Jamaican and American athletes gave their best performances recently whereas the performances of most of our country’s qualified athletes have slumped of late,” she observes with concern.

Her worry is not without reason as while Mayookha achieved the B-standard in July last year with a record jump of 14.11 m and Tintu scaled the mark in September with a timing of 2:00.95 minutes, the two have not come close to their best since despite training in Germany and Italy respectively.

“I doubt if the present contingent has been prepared well. These are not the Asian Games, but the Olympics and I don’t believe any of our track and field athletes stands a chance going by our recent record,” says long jumper Anju Bobby George, who took a leap of faith over 6.83 meters and finished sixth in the 2004 Athens Games. “I still cherish my experience at the Athens Games as the best of my life.

I was at my peak in 2003-04 and having won bronze in the world championship I was aiming for a medal at Athens," she recalls, clearly apprehensive for the present team representing the state.

Former national record holder, Bobby Aloysius, too is disappointed that some of the likely names have failed to qualify for the team. “Preeja and Prajusha were expected to qualify and so was the Indian 400 m men’s relay team, but they did not. I feel sad for them.”

The fact that crores are spent on sending a few select athletes abroad and not even a sum of ` 30,000 is given for training of talented athletes like P. Kunhumohammed and Asian Games gold medalist, Joseph G. Abraham, is also now under attack.

The Athletics Federation of India, for its part, is said to be furious with the recent form of athletes and is reportedly considering making it compulsory for every athlete to give a good performance in the final trials and not pin his hopes on the qualifying marks achieved months before, ahead of the next Olympics.

Perhaps this will usher in winds of change and give the state and the country another opportunity to look forward to more nail biting moments such as in the 1984 Los Angeles Games, when the Payyoli Express, P. T. Usha missed the bronze by a fraction of a second. The mantra for success then has to be training, and more training — without cutting costs, of course.

Mission 2016: go for gold

When the buzz is all about the London Olympics today, the Kerala government is eyeing the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games with its Go for Gold project. Sports Council president, Padmini Thomas, is confident the state will produce one of its best teams for Rio 2016 with Go for Gold.

“This will be a landmark project in the sporting history of Kerala. The discussions were started last year and we are confident the project will take off by the year end,” says Ms Thomas, asserting that the state has the best talent pool in the country for the Olympics and needs to make the most of it.

“We want to utilise the advantage we enjoy and produce the finest for Rio-2016. Go for Gold will also lay the foundation for future development of sports in the state,” she adds

Under the project world class training will be provided to a select contingent of sportsmen, picked by an expert committee from among those who excel in athletic meets and other competitions.

“By setting Rio 2016 as our goal, we now have ample time to chalk out our plans. About Rs 1 crore will be allotted to the programme each year and the best coaches from around the world will be invited to train our athletes using ultra-modern facilities,” Ms Thomas explains.

While no decision has been taken yet on how many athletes will train under Go for Gold, the idea is to tap the most talented. “Something this big has never happened in Kerala before. It ‘s sad that Kerala players return empty handed from all Olympic games. We need to change this,” she underlines.