Surendra, Guezel emerge Asian leaders, Anju fails

Guwahati, June 23 (UNI) Indian middle distance runner Surendra Singh and Uzbek sprinter Guezel Khubbeiva stole the limelight of the second leg of the Asian Grand prix here today while Anju Bobby Gorge disappointed everyone by failing to qualify for the Osaka World championship.

She tried her best but her effort was long way off from her best and the qualifying mark. Her below-par show was made up by Surendra Singh in the 3000 meter, clocking 7.57.87 and emerging the Asian leader.

In the process, he also beat his countryman Sunil Kumar, who only four days ago at Bangkok, breezed past Surendra in the same event.

Braving humid and hot conditions, unsuitable for top level international competition, Surendra ran his heart out to emerge at the top.

The other big moment came from Guezel Khubbeiva of Uzbekistan.

The 30 year-old ran scintillating 100 meter to emerge winner. With Sushantika Jaysinghe breathing down her neck, she blasted out of the block but Suhshantika caught him towards the end.

In the process, both saw surpassing the previous Asian record by four seconds. Their duel was the most fascinating competition of the evening which otherwise saw dull competition because of trying conditions.

The lack of competition also saw India's biggest medal hope for the forthcoming Osaka World Championship Anju Bobby Gorge failing to qualify for Osaka as she began the season with a series of below par performance.

She has, however, Pune leg of the Asian Grand Prix as well as other European circuits to qualify for the World Championships as the qualifying is open till August 13 next. The qualifying mark is 6.6 meter and her previous best was 6.83.

Coming back after long lay off as well as thigh injury, she began with a horrible 5.75 meter in her first jump. She steadily went up with each jump but her fifth jump was a false one forcing her to end her day with 6.28m.

''I was bit tense as it was the first jump of my season. But I was expecting to go up 6.5 and certainly I was not happy'', said Anju after her last jump. The hot and humid condition of the ground also took toll which saw most of the athletes giving much below par performance.

Anju did not have enough competition also this evening to push her length as there was only one international opponent in Saira Fazal of Pakistan against her with three Indian filling the gape.

The events started at 1700 hours to avoid the high temperature but evening was even more horrible as almost all the athletes were sweating out.

Bangkok star Xie Mei was also much below her best. She did win the event with 14.16 meter jump, much less than her Bangkok jump of 14.73 which was an Asian record. She did try to push the record but the humid condition was too harsh for her and she gave up.

''It was tough condition'' she said hoping to do well at Pune.

For the home country the first medal was won by Hari Shankar Roy in the High Jump, which was won by Sergey Zassimovich with a 2.18 m jump, which was one centimeter less than the Bangkok results.

Earlier Union Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar declared the Grand Prix Open in presence of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

FULL RESULTS OF ASIAN GRAND PRIX: High Jump Men FINAL:- ZASSIMOVICH Sergey KAZ 2.18m KIM Young-Min KOR 2.14m Shankar Roy Hari IND 2.14m Triple Jump Women FINAL:- XIE Limei CHN 14.16m LI Qian CHN 13.88m SARDI Rakhima KGZ 13.53m Shot Put Men FINAL:- GHOLUM Ahmed KUW 18.60m POLYEMG Chatchawal THA 17.95m Saurabh Vij IND 17.65m 400m Hurdles Men FINAL:- MENG Yan CHN 49.50s JOSEPH ABRAHAM IND 49.52s (NR) MELESHENKO Yevgeniy KAZ 50.58s Discus Throw Men FINAL:- SAMIMI Abbas IRI 60.91m GOWDA Vikas IND 58.86m WU Tao CHN 57.64m 400m Men FINAL:- WANG Liangyu CHN 46.16s AMARASEKARA Prasanna SRI 46.79s K.M.Binu IND 47.03s 400m Women FINAL:- CHITRA K.SOMAN IND 53.01s Maslyonko Marina KAZ 53.68s TERESHKOVA Olga KAZ 53.81s 100m Men FINAL:- SONDEE Wachara THA 10.34s Wen Yong Yi--CHN 10.36s SUWONPRATEEP Sittichai THA 10.45s Long Jump Women FINAL:- ANJU BOBBY GEORGE IND SAIRA FAZAL PAK MANISHA DEY IND Women FINAL:- KHUBBIEVA Guzel UZB 11.24s (AL) JAYASINGHE Susanthika SRI 11.25s VU Thi Huong VIE 11.47s Hurdles Women FINAL:- VINOGRADOVA Anastasiya KAZ 13.05s ERAWATI Dedeh INA 13.71s ATILANO Sheena PHI 13.92s High Jump Women FINAL:- SUSMITA SINGHA ROY IND SAHANA KUMARI IND CHAIPETCH Noeng-Rothai THA Javelin Throw Women FINAL:- GURPREET KUAR IND NISHA RANI IND XUE Juan 10-Feb-86 CHN Shot Put Women FINAL:- LIN Chia-Ying TPE LEE Mi-Young KOR ULYEVA Iolanta KAZ Men FINAL:- MORADI Sajad IRI 3:39.12s CHATHOLI Hamza IND 3:41.68s 3 248 Sajeesh Joseph IND 3:42.57s 1500m Women FINAL:- PAULOSE SinimolIND 4:15.53s Sushma IND 4:20.07s LUKASHEVA SvetlanaKAZ 4:20.93s Relay Men FINAL: Thailand THA 39.85s Soksan Wong Sala, Wachara Sondee, Ranom Pudsa, Sitthichai Suvorprateep India IND 40.89s Shameer Mon, Ajay Kumar, Ritesh Anand, B.G.Nagraj Singapore SIN 40.90s Gary Yeo, Poh Seng Song, Muhd. Amiruddin, Shameer Ayub Relay Women FINAL:- Thailand THA 44.43s Sangwan Juksvnil, Oranveh Klomdee, Juthamas Thavoancharon, Supawadee Koapbrk China CHN 44.53s Tao Yu Jia, Chen Jue, Hau Ling, Wang Jing India IND 47.33s H.M.Jyothi, Anuradha Biswal, Ranjita Roy, Poonam Tomar 3000m Men FINAL:- SINGH Surendra IND 7:57.87s (AL) KUMAR Sunil IND 8:15.20s WIJEKOON Chaminda Indika SRI 8:30.59s 4x400m Relay Men FINAL Srilanka SRI 3:07.82s Malysia MAS 3:10.61s Thailand THA 3:10.63s 4x400m Relay Women FINAL China CHN 3:32.14s India IND 3:36.33s KAZ KAZ 3:43.86s UNI