The upcoming Federation Cup in Bhopal is supposed to be the showcase of top athletics performance in the country. But that might not be the case in the meet starting in Bhopal tomorrow. Two top athletes, quarter-miler Manjeet Kaur and heptathlete JJ Shobha, who gave their best at the Athens Olympic Games, may not be too keen to go all out for the Beijing qualifying mark in Bhopal, waiting for meets nearer to the Olympics instead.The two (as also others), one learns, would want to give their best in the second half of competitions, around May. Those events would be mainly the Asian Grand Prix meets in Bangkok and Hanoi, and the Chennai inter-state meet in June.Taking into account Manjeet’s performance in the Indian Grand Prix meet in Patiala (53.62) last Thursday, the Beijing qualification mark of 51.55 (A standard) in women's 400m might be within her reach. But the point is, if she wants to go beyond her personal best of 51.05 (in a home qualifier for Athens), she needs to show a far better average performance now. She is averaging around 54 seconds at the moment.Shobha’s story is similar. She gave a sterling performance in Athens, finishing 11th with a tally of 6172 points. Her best before that was a national record, at 6211, scored the same year. Thereafter, though, she has stayed way below that mark. The A qualification mark for Beijing in her event is 6000 points. She has been averaging 5600-5700.Athens has remained the only high point in their careers. They have since won only some low-key competitions, that too at the continental level.
