AFI pleased with Games' display

Indian track and field athletes failed to make a mark in the London Olympics but the Athletics Federation of India on Thursday said it was satisfied with their performances.

Fourteen Indian athletes took part in the blue-riband event of the Olympics and the best performance recorded was the seventh-place finish by discus thrower Krishna Poonia, but AFI chief Adille Sumariwala was a satisfied man.

“Overall, it was a satisfactory performance by our athletes. There were two national records by walkers, Poonia and Vikas Gowda finished seventh and eighth while Tintu Luka did her season’s best,” Sumariwala said.

He, however, expressed disappointment at the performance of triple jumpers Renjith Maheshwary and Mayookha Johny and marathoner Ram Singh Yadav, who were asked to prove their fitness before the Games.

“The three were asked to prove fitness and it was not surprising that they did not do well. They had not taken part in competitions for long and the selection committee wanted to check their fitness,” he said.

Renjith and Mayookha failed to qualify for the final round with the former fouled all his three attempts while Yadav finished 78th in the marathon.

Asked why the trio were selected if the AFI was not happy with their fitness, Sumariwala
said, “The selection committee wanted to know of their status. We asked them to prove their fitness and their coaches sent reports of their performance in competitions in Europe. We have to go by the reports of the coaches.”