51st National Open Athletics Championships in Kolkata: Day 1

The Open Nationals started off on 10 September, 2011 at Yuva Bharti Krirangan/Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata. The heats were held in scorching heat and the runners blazing across it heat after heat added a few degrees to it, blistering the track even further. Although at the end of the morning session the athletes got to cool off/run for shelter from a rainshower which seemingly came from nowhere.All the track and jump events will be held in the main stadium, around the football field which was graced by Argentina and Venezuela a few days ago. And the throw events will be held in the SAI Complex. Makes sense keeping running and throwing events apart. No point having a runner impaled by a wayward javelin or being beheaded by a discus. Although a discus is blunt and won’t make a clean cut, part of the head will be dangling from the body, but all that is beside the point. Our athletes aren’t such poor shots anyway._________________________________________________________________

Here are some details about the event:- The Open Nationals will be held over the course of four days, from 9 to 13 September.- 44 events (22 each for men and women)- Biggest contingent is sent by the Railways: 109 athletes. Closely trailed by Police:106.- Total number of athletes: 972. With 304 Women and the rest being men.

Here are some of the big names expected to be at this event:- Shot putter Om Prakash Singh, personal best- 20.07m when he won gold in Szombathely, Hungary recently.- Asian long jump champion, Mayookha Johny. (already qualified for Olympic Games in triple jump)- Siddhanth Thingalaya, national record holder in 110 m hurdles with a time of 13.81 seconds.- Steeplechaser Sudha Singh.- Distance runners Kavita Raut and Preeja Sreedharan will compete in 5,000m and 10,000m events for ONGC.- Half-miler Ghamanda Ram.

_________________________________________________________________

Opening Ceremony:

For the opening ceremony, there was a torch passed on by prominent athletes. And the marching bands took a walk around the track, pausing to salute towards the podium occupied by the chief guests. The first band marched to ‘Kadam kadam bhadaye ja.’ They were followed by a Scottish style band with bagpipes and kilts. They had a real stylish salute, where they paused at the podium, spun 360 degress, crouched and got up, lifted a leg and swung it down with a salute. They marched to the classic beat: ‘Left, right, left.’

During the opening ceremony, the chief guest and other dignitaries addressed the crowd. They relayed a message from the president: “Happy to know that the association is organizing the National Open at Kolkata on 9-13 September 2011. Extend warm greetings to the organizers and participants.” Mr. M.L. Dogra, Competition and Camp Director, AFI, commented that these athletes aren’t just to win aiming to win medals here. They will also make us proud at the Olympics in 2012.

The organizers also announced their assurance that the water logged tracks will in no way obstruct the performance of the athletes. Owing to the Argentina-Venezuela match last week they were unable to carry out repairs on the tracks. They apologized if anyone faced/faces problems and urged them to get in touch with any official, all of whom were instructed to fully cooperate with them. They added that they strongly felt that everyone will be happy to perform in the stadium.

At the end of the opening ceremony, balloons were released in the air, causing the birds flying overhead to scatter around. Balloons can be pretty insignificant to those who came to watch the nation’s best square off. But for two young spectators, those balloons may as well have been the world. Their guardian had got hold of one balloon and gave it to one of the kids to hold, prompting the other to start crying and howling for the balloon. When said balloon changed hands, the other started crying. This exchange went on for a while, until they got hold of another balloon to pacify both kids. It was like watching a hot potato being tossed around, only the one not holding the potato was the one yearning for it.

The opening ceremony concluded at 3:52. The first event didn’t start until sometime after 5. By then the wet track had dried off a bit._________________________________________________________________A look behind the scenes:

The news channels usually provide a behind the scenes look at events such as these. Going behind the scenes is a quality of investigative journalism. It shows diligence. So, to go a step further, I’ve provided a look behind the scenes of their behind the scene coverage. Here’s a behind the behind the scenes of an interview in progress (of the athlete in the blue shirt), to give a better look at the event:

Everyday, I touch new heights of journalism.

That’s something you won’t see on TV unless they film themselves filming themselves. Which is impossible unless you’re in an MC Escher painting.

I draw me drawing me

___________________________________More pictures:

After spotting a gaggle of photographers with cameras larger than my skull, I was struck by the futility of me taking pictures with my puny mobile camera. Before deciding to stick to painting pictures with words, here’s a pic I took of the award presentation of the Women’s 10000 m race:

Kinda blurry isn’t it? Don’t fret. Here’s another pic where you can actually identify the athletes and see who won what:

There was a gap of a good hour and more between the beginning of the first race in the evening and after the opening ceremony. Nothing to do but watch the athletes warming up. The pole jumpers were warming up by practicing jumps minus the bar which they had to clear. Just working on their jumps. Later they added the bar. Runners were warming up by stretching and running laps, all on the outer tracks. Maybe because the inner tracks looked more wet. Watching runners warm up is intriguing. They run in different exaggerated stances, one stance looks like they are kicking someone ahead of them with every step. Another is a sort of choppy motion. Of course, they also sprint around a little.

Eventually the organizers began to remove the starting blocks and boxes from the 400m spots and they carried it away with a wheelbarrow to the 100 m start point signaling the advent of said event. At one point the coaches were ordered off into the gallery away from the field. After a while the crowd was in full force around the track, regardless.

One person began to attempt to wipe the complete track dry/get rid of a particular wet spot. The magnitude of the task loomed large, magnified by his lone broom. I didn’t see how he could manage it without a witch to operate it. He stopped soon.

There were a few cheers for the home athletes such as Rahamtullah Mollah. The crowd was sparse and scattered across the huge stadium. The best part about a race is watching the ebb and flow of the first line of runners. It looks like the animation of a visualized equalizer which we see on winamp/music players. Just when one runner pulls ahead, another breaks and catches on. The constant back and forth packed in a few seconds charge up the atmosphere.

Random musing:

The gun signaling the start of the run is some ways behind the first runner. If runners start off with the sound, don’t the runners in the outer lanes have a split second disadvantage because of the time taken by the sound to travel?http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-speedsound.htm

Bottom left on track, gun wielder gets ready to signal the race off

If the temp is 30 degrees Celcius the resultant speed of sound is 349.02 m/s. It’ll take 0.143 seconds for the sound of the gun to travel 50 meters. Of course this is just random musing. Maybe the race is also signaled off by a flag up ahead.

One hundreds of a second can make a world of difference in track. One of the runners from Maharashtra, Ayesha Billimoria (400 m, 5th lane) came up short by 0.1 second, missing out on beating her nearest opponent and a qualification in the next round.

The events of the first day concluded sometime before 7 PM. Here are some of the results from Day 1:

ResultsKolkata, Sep 10 (IANS) Asian Games gold medal winning sprinter Preeja Sreedharan won the 10,000-metre women’s race. Preeja, representing the Railways, clocked an ordinary 35:56.09. Kavita Raut (35:56.13) won the Silver medal for ONGC while L. Surya (36:09.00), representing the Railways, settled for bronze.

In the men’s 10,000 metres final, ONGC’s Suresh Kumar clocked 30:18.16 to win the gold medal. He was followed by Kheta Ram of SSCB (30:24.36) and Soji Mathew of the Railways (30:43.39).

Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) clinched the first two places in discus throw with Vipender Singh (50.52m) bagging the gold medal and Dharamraj (50.31) the silver. Sunil Kumar of the Railways finished third. (49.27m).

For more info, check out the AFI website.

More results.