Mumbai: Disappointed at the failure of his
runners to attain the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark of 2
hours and 19 minutes at the Mumbai Marathon on Sunday, army coach
K S Mathew urged the Athletics Federation of India to space
out the number of such events in the country.
"Our runners tried hard but the hot and humid conditions
affected their performance. But the bright spot is that both
Binning Lyngkhoi and Ram Singh Yadav finished overall 11th and
12th from a field in which so many Kenyans and Ethiopians took
part," he said after the gruelling race.
Mathew pointed out that the major Indian marathons,
starting with the Pune event in November last, are held in a
three to four-month period and wanted them spread out more.
"After this are the Nagpur and Chandigarh marathons, both
on January 31. After those there's the Delhi marathon on
February 7 while the Chennai and Kolkata marathons are on the
same day, February 14," Mathew said.
"Our organisations, federations and sponsors have to
think deep over this. I don't want to comment any more as I'm
a serving army man," the Kerala-born coach said.
Shillong-born Lyngkhoi (2:20:12) narrowly missed
attaining the qualifying standard set for October 3-14 event
in Delhi, while three-time best Indian finisher in the event
and his room mate and training partner Yadav clocked 2:21:02
to finish just behind him.
A total of 14 Kenyan and 13 Ethiopian elite athletes took
part in the 42.195-km race that began and ended at the
Chhattrapati Shivaji Terminus in South Mumbai after taking the
runners from Worli to Bandra and back over the 5.6-km long
newly constructed Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link.
Both Lyngkhoi and Yadav, apart from another Pune-based
Army Sports Institute runner Angad Kumar (19th overall and 5th
among Indians in 2:24:03), had aimed to clock 2:17 on the eve
of the race but failed in their bid.
The army coach also pointed out that barring the Pune and
Mumbai events, which are recognised by the International
athletics body IAAF, the others did not have the tag.
"We had sent Ram Singh Yadav to take part in the Gold
Coast Marathon in Australia over the last two years. Now I
don't know how our runners can qualify for the CWG," he
wondered.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 17, 2010, 14:26