Anju George to compete at Colombo SA Games

Returns to competitive circuit after injury

Dinesh Weerawansa

SA GAMES: Celebrated Indian long jumper Anju Bobby George has been declared fit and will return to international circuit at the 10th South Asian Games, which starts in Colombo on Friday.

George, who turned a new chapter in Indian athletics with medals at the IAAF World Championship and at IAAF Grand Pr ix series, has overcome an injury to compete in her first major meet for the season. The Indian athletic officials have included the Kerala athlete in their 75-member athletic team for the eight-nation Games.

George and Sri Lanka's sprint queen Susanthika Jayasinghe will be the only IAAF World championships medallists to be seen in action during the South Asian Games track and field competition to be worked off at Colombo's Sugathadasa Outdoor Stadium from August 23 to 27.

Anju George has been out of the competition for the past few months nursing a heel injury. Having completely recovered from her injury, the lanky Indian lass has decided to make use of the Colombo 2006 Games to test her form and start her preparations for the IAAF World Cup in Athletics and the 15th Asian Games scheduled for later this year.

Thus, the Indian authorities have included George in their athletic team which comprise 40 men, 24 women and 11 officials.

They are scheduled to arrive in Colombo in two batches on August 21 and 22. India's middle and long distance runners will fly out from Bangalore while the rest will take their flight to Colombo from the capital New Delhi.

The Indian contingent to Colombo will comprise 214 men, 106 women, 55 coaches, 21 managers, 10 medical staff and eight contingent officials. India will be taking part in 17 disciplines, two more than the last Games in Islamabad two years ago.

Olympian George's presence will be a morale booster to the Indian team. George and Jayasinghe will be the star attractions at the athletic competition of the 20-discipline Games which will be declared open by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday evening.

But the competition in Colombo will be a decisive one for George who will have to regain her form fast before important international events lined up for the coming months.

It looks like a regular berth in the IAAF World Cup finals would be a tough task for George.

Unless she comes good in Colombo to reach the necessary qualifying distance for the World Cup in Stuttgart next month, George will have to look for a wild card from the IAAF to compete in women's long jump event.

The former World championship medallist George also came second in her pet event at the IAAF World Final in Monaco last year. But she has been out of action for the last three months. The heel injury has forced her to skip several important events, thus losing valuable points.

She has lost her world rankings and is currently not within the top seven. Her husband-coach Robert Bobby George is confident that the long jump sensation could make a winning comeback. "She has recovered fully and is confident. She is taking the full workload for the last three weeks," he was quoted as saying.

However, India will not field their full athletic team for the Colombo SA Games.

Except for a few experienced athletes, India will basically field a second-string team for the 10th edition of the Games.

Pinki Paramanik, who excelled at the 2006 Asian Grand Prix Series will be one of the few seasoned campaigners.

Besides Anju George and Paramanik, the other elite Indian athletes who will be seen in action here are local national record holders Anil Kumar (men's 100m), Hari Sankar Roy (men's high jump), Anuradha Biswal (women's 100m hurdles), and Gurmeet Kaur (women's javelin throw).

Amongst those prominent athletes missing form the Indian team are women's discus thrower Seema Antil, 400m specialist Manjit Kaur and top middle-distance runner Ghamanda Ram. Team sources said Ram is recovering from hepatitis A.

But India has decided to allocate a major portion in their athletic team to emerging youngsters. Hence, India's athletic team to Colombo will mainly comprise a second-string seniors national poolists and juniors.

Thus, they will be concentrating on the Asian Games in Doha in December and the 2008 Olympics in China.

Not only their athletic team but their shooting, hockey and soccer teams to SA Games too would be development squads.

India's world junior shooting champion in 10m air rifle event Navnath Fartade and World Cup archery champion Jayanta Talukdar will be amongst the brightest gold medal prospects in the strong 418-member Indian contingent for the Colombo Games.

Besides athletics, shooting and archery, India will be competing in badminton, boxing, cycling, football, hockey, judo, kabaddi, rowing, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball and wushu. Veteran shooter and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ashok Pandit will be the overall captain.