Heavy medal, India rocks
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Nov. 21: India opened its athletics campaign in the Asian Games in a spectacular fashion with long distance runners Preeja Sreedharan and Sudha Singh clinching the gold medals in the women’s 10,000m and 3000m steeplechase at the Aoti main stadium here on Sunday.
To add to the delight, Kavita Raut secured the silver medal behind Preeja in the in the 10,000m race at the Aoti Main Stadium here.
The 28-year-old Preeja, belonging to Kerala’s Idukki district, and Commonwealth Games bronze winner Kavita of Maharashtra ran a tactical race by staying back of the pack before making the final effort to put back the bunch of nine other runners and cross the finish line with personal best times.
Preeja clocked 31 minutes, 50.47 seconds, a good two minutes below the Asian and world record of China’s Wang Junxia but better than her 32:04s set two years ago at the London Olympic Games qualifying meet.
“I feel very proud to have won the gold medal after missing out on a medal in the Commonwealth Games. I was very disappointed with the Commonwealth Games performance and was determined to do well in the Asian Games,” said the short-statured Preeja.
“I am also happy for Kavita for getting the silver medal,” she said but could not describe how she overtook the rest of the field at the end. “I don’t know. I just ran, that’s all,” she said.
She also credited the Indian government and her coaches for the victory.
“I lost my father at a very young age and my mother brought us up. I have a brother and sister. She worked in others’ houses to run the family,” said Preeja.
“I also give credit to the government for the money it spent on the month-long training which we got. I also want to give credit to my coach Nikolai Snesarov of Belarus and the Sports Authority of India,” added the golden girl.
Kavita, who too clocked her personal best of 31:51.44, also gave credit for her silver medal to the coaches and the government. “I’m very happy. I got a medal in CWG and in the Asian Games too. I thank the government, the coaches and ONGC,” said the 25-year-old Kavita. The bronze in this event went to S. Habtegebrel of Bahrain.
To bring more cheers to the Indian camp was the thrilling victory of Sudha Singh in the day’s final event — the 3000m women’s steeplechase. She also set a new national record in her effort.
The two Indians in fray —eventual gold medallist Sudha and O.P. Jaisha, who ended up fifth, were abreast of the others in the bunch with Sudha setting the pace after 2000m. Yuan secured the silver clocking 9:55.71 while the bronze went to Japan’s Minori Hayakari (10.01.25).
Sudha made the decisive kick on the back stretch of the final lap and was in fact leading her nearest rival, eventual silver medal winner Jin Yuan of China, comfortably after the last water jump by ten metres before the host nation’s athlete accelerated to close the gap.
“I never expected to win the gold medal. The Chinese girl gave me a tough fight in the end and I am happy to win the medal,” Sudha said.
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