Hobbling Usha fails to provide the sparkle

MUMBAI, Oct 22: One hundred and thirty metres into the 400 metre race at the Priyadarshini Park today, a throbbing pain in the heel of he...

MUMBAI, Oct 22: One hundred and thirty metres into the 400 metre race at the Priyadarshini Park today, a throbbing pain in the heel of her right leg forced empress of Indian athletics PT Usha to slow down. Usha later withdrew from her pet event, the 200, and the Asian Games selection trials for the 4 x 100 relay.

“Nothing serious. The heel feels okay after a couple of injections,” Usha said. Around her, frantic attempts were being made to get her air ticket to Calcutta confirmed.

Usha reiterated her participation in the Calcutta leg of the National Circuit Meet, from November 3. While she has her eyes set on the 200 and 400 at the Asian Games, she has not ruled out 100.

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“The 100 clashes with the 400 at the Games, and 400 is my priority. I know I can do 11.39 (the National record she set in 1985) even today. But, if I don’t touch 11.4 or 11.5 in the remaining two meets, I will skip the 100,” she said, before she was consumed by another bunch of autograph hunters. She obliged them with a beamingsmile.

If Usha has kept her options open, ruling 100m champion Rachita Mistry faces the Hobson dilemma: She must clip 12 microseconds off today’s 11.55 performance, her fastest in four years, to qualify. Rachita’s best effort, 11.43, had come in 1994. But that was before marriage and Karen, her daughter. “I look forward to touch 11.43 again,” she said. “I am rather slow off the blocks, and trail the first 30 metres. That, I must work on.”