Nasty fall in Cyprus 800m race denies Anu Kumar Commonwealth Games ticket

India’s promising middle-distance runner Anu Kumar was hopeful of achieving qualification time in men’s 800m for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games at the Limassol International Athletics Meeting in Cyprus on May 10. Instead of improving his 800m season-best of 1:47.81 seconds clocked last month in Kozhikode, the 19-year-old had a nasty fall and ended up with bruised legs and arms.

“There was jostling for the inner track at the 350m mark of the 800m race," the Indian athlete told Sportskeeda from the port city of Cyprus. "I was tucked into the second position behind the leader. At that crucial moment, I was about to surge for home. But someone pushed me from behind. I lost my balance and tumbled on the track. I was badly bruised and plodded home to finish last in the race.”

Kumar was confident of achieving Commonwealth Games qualification time of 1:46.07 in Cyprus.

“The practice was good," the Uttarakhand international runner said. "The weather was okay. But it turned out to be a bad day in the office for me."

Kumar is now mentally and physically recovering from the painful experience.

“The international meeting in Cyprus was a good opportunity to improve my timing," he said. "But it turned out to be a disappointment for me."

The teenager is yet to start jogging as bruises haven’t healed properly.

“I’m feeling stiff," he admitted. "It might take another three to four days to resume normal practice. Now I have to plan out another international race to achieve qualification time of 1:46.07 for the Commonwealth Games.”

Kumar said that in case things don’t go according to the original plan, Plan B will be to compete at next month’s National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Chennai.

The four-member Indian athletics team will return to the country from Cyprus on Friday.

Apart from Kumar, the Cyprus International exposure tour turned out to be good for three other Indian athletes as they finished among the medal winners.

Jyothi Yarraj clocked 13.23 seconds to win the gold medal with a national record in the women’s 100m hurdles event. The record is subject to ratification by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

However, the Commonwealth Games qualification time in women’s 100m hurdles is 13.11 seconds.

While India’s Lilli Das won gold in women’s 1500m race with a time of 4:17.76, Amlan Borgohain won bronze in men’s 200m race.