Tough times for top quartermilers

Athletes prepare to leave camp

Five leading men’s quartermilers prepared to pack their bags and leave the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, on Thursday after they were told to pay for their stay at the training centre.

VB Bineesh, Bibin Mathew, Jithin Paul, P Kunhu Mohammad and Jibin Sebastian were asked to report to the camp in Patiala but having reached there, they had only bitter experiences in store.

Asked to play Rs 18,000 per month for their board and lodging, they were in a helpless state and even though the Athletics Federation of India reportedly said it would sort out the issue by Thursday, no solution had been arrived at till late in the day, with the Federation apparently waiting for clearance from the Sports Authority of India.

“We haven’t got leave from our offices as they need a letter from the AFI. Without that, we can’t stay here for long and with this payment issue also cropping up, we have booked our tickets to leave on Sunday,” said one of the athletes.

Bineesh, Bibin and Jithin are employed with the Railways while the other two are with the Services.

Right from the start of the season, the quartermilers, who still nurse ambitions of Olympic qualification, have encountered one hurdle after another, leaving them a frustrated lot. With the government only supporting the expenses of the Core Group of probables, these runners were placed in the Developmental Group and were told to leave the camp in January.

After running from pillar to post to make alternative arrangements, they continued training back in Kerala under former international Lijo David Thottan, but lack of continuity has affected their chances of making the Olympic norm, besides sapping their morale.

“They need to be among the top 16 relay teams in the world to qualify. They had done their off-season workouts well and all were in good shape. Then came one blow after the other. And finally this -- that too, after being asked to join the camp by the Federation.

Now, I don’t think they can make it,” said Lijo, who was part of the Indian team that set the current national record of 3:02.62 at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1998.

“Four of them were running under 47 seconds (in 400M) and they could have easily clocked timings close to our national record, which would have been sufficient to make it to the Olympics,” said Lijo.